Reading Spaces: Get Your Post Read, and Help Others Too!

Learning Tip:

**To learn and implement best? Have this page open in a tab at the top of your browser, and another tab open of the forum and in the page begun where you want to post a topic or reply. (You can have two tabs of the site open at the same time.) 

 

The forum Analytics tell me which posts are read the most….or not at all. One fact that is evident from the analytics is that if the content written in a post that does not have “Reading Spaces” inserted every couple of sentences, then it is too hard for people focus and concentrate on it, so they will not read the post. Below is an example of continuous text or content that people will just bypass reading, as it takes too much work. (Attention spans on the web are very short)

 

Fixing them only takes 5-10 seconds, and I ask you to do it for two reasons: 1) this way your post will be read, and 2) this forum is based upon courtesy toward others and this makes it easier for people to read. Be considerate to others and make sure your posts are read!  

Your Post Will NOT be Read with Continuous Text as You See Below:

 

There is no rule about adding reading or paragraph spacing, and I will not banning anyone or even deleting forum posts because of the "continuous text," but I am trying to make everyone aware of the realities on the web.  If people have to work very hard at reading your post--they won't; if they see continuous text without a break like what you see here--it is has been shown that people will work at it only the first time they see it. The next time they will ignore the post and move on to the next one. I have caught myself doing that as I like the person posting his thoughts, but when it is too hard--I am not going to read it. I scan it for rule violations as an moderator, and that is it. There have been studies done that show that the attention span of a reader on the web has declined again to only eight seconds, and the researcher and author of the article reminded us that the average attention span of a Goldfish is nine seconds! Thus people have little patience if they have to work very hard at reading a post, and thus they will just skip it and move on to the next post, since there are so many great posts with superb threads written in this forum on a daily basis. The bottom line is that people are used to reading in paragraphs and when they see continuous text--they don't want to work so hard, so they quickly move to the next post.

 

Yikes.  See what I mean? Who wants to read what is above?  Nobody.  See the same text below...

 

There is no rule about adding reading or paragraph spacing, and I will not banning anyone or even deleting forum posts because of the "continuous text," but I am trying to make everyone aware of the realities on the web.  If people have to work very hard at reading your post--they won't; if they see continuous text without a break like what you see above--it is has been shown that people will work at it only the first time they see it.

 

The next time they will ignore the post and move on to the next one. I have caught myself doing that as I like the person posting his thoughts, but when it is too hard--I am not going to read it.  I scan it for rule violations as an moderator, and that is it. There have been studies done that show that the attention span of a reader on the web has declined again to only eight seconds, and the researcher and author of the article reminded us that the average attention span of a Goldfish is nine seconds!

 

Thus people have little patience if they have to work very hard at reading a post, and thus they will just skip it and move on to the next post, since there are so many great posts with superb threads written in this forum on a daily basis. The bottom line is that people are used to reading in paragraphs and when they see continuous text--they don't want to work so hard, so they quickly move to the next post.

 

Put in a space every two-to-four sentences, by tapping the "Enter" key on PCs or "Return" on Macs. Do gauge it by eye so it is not too long a paragraph, and work it in with the natural breaks that occur. Don't let your paragraphs go more than four sentences--please!

 

The bottom line is that we all are used to reading a paragraph format, and when it is not written that way?  People won't read it...

 

Let's make this a great reading experience for everyone, as it should be reading about Our Beloved Ducks!  Get your post read for certain and help others by creating “Reading Spaces.”  Everyone that is Greybeard-age says, THANKS!