Attack of the Short-Posts?

[WhiteLightHeart]

Afternoon/Evening/Morning, floofs~
Although it's been a while since I've made my own little discussion, here, I wanted to see what your opinions are on a roleplay trend I've noticed as of late.

Let's say you're sitting there, roleplaying with your pride, pack, Clan, etc., and majority of those around you prefer paragraph-style roleplay (you can also call this "literate," though this can be the case for any RP styles).

Someone (we'll call her Ellie) makes their post, and it goes a little something like this:
<Ellie> Sleepy-eyed and still warm from her nap, the little wolf pup gave a toothy yawn as the pack around her started to stir. She blinked, looking up at the sky-- it was just now becoming light. -s-

Not a bad RP post, right? Kinda cute, descriptive, and just another waking-up sort of post.

However, did you notice what I added at the end of it?

Yes, the dreaded "-s-" for short-posts! OH NO!

But wait; Ellie's post wasn't all that short, nor was it non-descriptive or lazy by any means... So why would she apologize for it being a "short-post?"

This brings me to my point.
From what I've seen as of late, many roleplayers seem to be under the notion that they must have a RP post that is several paragraphs long for it to truly be adequate. It must be like writing a book, and if they don't have an obscene amount of detail worthy of the literary classics of the 20th century, they surely must be an inadequate, lazy, or just all-around inexperienced roleplayer.
If their post doesn't meet these high-brow expectations, they must apologize at the end of it by saying,
"-s-"
"Sorry, short-post."
"sssssssssssss short short short!"
"Ah, such a short post, I'm sorry! I just can't think of anything right now.. Don't be mad. ;-;"

I find this little misconception quite silly, to be honest.
Though I may not roleplay as much as I used to, I will say that as a seasoned RPer who once ran a wolf RP, which was full to the brim with paragraph-style RPers, I never once got after anyone, or thought less of them if they had only one paragraph, or even one sentence in their post.

Why is this, though? Don't you have make a 198273821+ paragraph long post to be considered "literate?"

The answer, in my opinion, is a no.
The reason behind this can be summed up in one word: Conciseness.

Concise - Adjective; Expressing much in few[er] words; Clear and succinct (Source)

While detail can bring a lot to the table, and be quite stimulating for roleplay, there is nothing wrong with a concise roleplay post, especially when things are getting fast-paced, and you don't necessarily want everyone to spend 5+ minutes on their post.

I have the patience for this, and I enjoy reading longer posts, but being concise and straight-forward at times is nothing to be ashamed of when roleplaying.

So throw those little "-s-" things away; roleplay the way you're comfortable. It is meant to be fun, right? The angst against short-posts is only a misconception in my eyes, and I feel that so long as you're mindful of what's going on in the RP, and take the time to acknowledge others when necessary, making a concise post is nothing to be ashamed of.


So, how do you guys feel about "short-posts" in paragraph-style RP?

[IcexWolf1]

Usually I only say it's short when it's one or two sentences long, apart from my normal three or more. I'm not apoligizing for it being short, I'm just saying that that one post in particular was shorter than what I normally go for. Ran out of ideas for what to say, not enough to go off of from someone else's post to make something out of it, not in the mood, etc. I'm not saying my post is inadequit, just that it is shorter than what is the usual for me.

[OreoHeroz]

Well I really don't like short-posts - it's not fair and they are really...short. You can't really make anything out of it, like take this for example: "The lizard stretched out on the rock"

Alright, so the lizard is on the rock. That's lovely. But could you please put some more detail into it? Yes, the lizard is on the rock, but where is the rock? What is the weather? Is it sleeping? Why is it there?

I mean, sure it's alright to be comfortable with how you roleplay, but some people take it the "wrong" way. I'm not sure how to explain this, but some people just put like: "She walked over and sat down." That is their post. Whole post; nothing else. I don't like the look of that, personally, because it's not descriptive enough. Yes, I am the kind of person that enjoys long paragraphs.

This was a little confusing to write out, so it's not very based on, but basically what I believe is that short posts are not approved by me.

[darkknight]

I've always found the "short-posting" to be odd. You could make the longest role-play post in history, but if it doesn't tell a creative story and makes sense, what's the point? If you like to do multi-paragraph type role-playing and you happen to make one single sentence, it shouldn't be taken to such a apocalyptic scale. Especially if you're playing a game, patience is usually thin and people like to go ahead and say what is to be said or do.

To be fair, one-liners may not be my muse, but if you at least post in a way that is creative and story-driven, I have no mind. Like I said before, despite how long the post is, if it doesn't make sense, then that's where an apology would play in for the confusion.   

[meeeea]

Short posts don't bother me at all, but those really short posts that aren't descriptive in any way make me shake my head a bit. OreoHeroz stated this a bit clearly. Let's say we have: "The cream wolf gently stretched out her front legs and trotted out into the clearing, perking her triangular ears up and sitting down onto the cold, dew-covered grass." This post might be short, but it's still pretty descriptive and nice to read, but: "The wolf sat down." We don't get anything from it. Yes, it did sit down, but what did it do before? Why did it sit down etc.

[AlphaEclipse]

I get this also, especially when I use to join a RP group. Let me explain:

I once was roleplaying with a friend, and suddenly, a large pack of wolves surrounded us and put their 'smirk' emotes on. They continued to RP about, how if we don't leave their territory, they'll kill us, and how we are invading their space. But let me get to the point. They RP killed my friend and kept me alive because of my 'good' RP skills and how I was a good 'fighter'. (First they were using a 'language' known on FH called wolfspeak) And right when I made my first RP post:

Me: -Spends a lot of time to write a good RP paragraph-
Pack leader: No post cutting or short posts.

Number one, my post wasn't short, it went on to two whole posts. Secondly, someone posted RIGHT before me, we probably clicked enter at the same time. AND, do you want me to right a novel on my charrie sitting down? Yeah, I must agree, if you're in a battle or something, then you probably should write a nice paragraph, but if it's night and we are all resting, what am I suppose to say? Also, when I hold an RP, I don't mind if someone's charrie writes like 5 words. As long as it sums up everything they're doing.

Concise - Adjective; Expressing much in few[er] words; Clear and succinct (Source)
While detail can bring a lot to the table, and be quite stimulating for roleplay, there is nothing wrong with a concise roleplay post, especially when things are getting fast-paced, and you don't necessarily want everyone to spend 5+ minutes on their post.

Exactly. Heh, sorry if I went a bit off topic there, I just wanted to state what I think about short posts and 'post cutting'.

[kiaz1st]

I find nothing wrong with short posts. As most of my characters, well, my favourite characters, are rogues, and they tend to meet allot of people, and all of them have their own rping styles, which means I've learned to adapt to all of these at any given moment. But I do agree, I tend to lean towards the more, descriptive, posts. There's nothing wrong with adding a few words after all.

[IcexWolf1]

I just don't favor short roleplay posts because you can't get anything out of it. "The wolf sat down." Good for it! But how am I supposed to respond to that?

Person: *Sits down on a rock*
Me: The wolf trotted towards the loner, her lanky legs striding gracefully over the flat terrain. Her electric lime green eyes, which seemed to glow in the rapidly approaching twilight, evaluated the canine perched upon the stone, her expression stolid.
Person: *Looks up*

It just gets boring when you have nothing to go off of. If you're only given one thing to respond to, you can only respond to that one thing, rather than multiple things. "Person" could have said something about looking up, the expression on their character's face, and even their character's thoughts about my character at first sight.  It's just hard to write more about something, when there isn't a whole lot to write about. I could go into a whole spheal about my character sitting down and watching the loner, but that's boring. :/ Need to throw something new into the mix. I could have just left it at "The wolf trotted towards the loner," but where's the sustenance in that?

[Killian]

Ahhh, I do find it annoying when people think they need to type a whole paragraph to be deemed "literate", plus it annoys me when people are like "OMG shortshortshort o3o I'm sorry! ;.;"

I like short posts, three or four lines is fine, two lines isn't so bad. I dread the old "loooong poooost in proooogressss -c- mooooore looooongneesss -c- looooong -done-" THAT is annoying, we do not need to know your ear flicked and your tail swung around while you were talking to me. I just like to know what they are doing and what they are saying, I don't care to know if they blinked while they said it...

Posts are just starting to get bulked up with things like blinking, flicking, waving and windy fur these days. It's all the Wolf Speaking and how people bully "illiterates" and glorify long posts, act like if you aren't "literate" you should just get out.....

 

[Lady_Alizarin]

Well I really don't like short-posts - it's not fair and they are really...short. You can't really make anything out of it, like take this for example: "The lizard stretched out on the rock"

Alright, so the lizard is on the rock. That's lovely. But could you please put some more detail into it? Yes, the lizard is on the rock, but where is the rock? What is the weather? Is it sleeping? Why is it there?

I mean, sure it's alright to be comfortable with how you roleplay, but some people take it the "wrong" way. I'm not sure how to explain this, but some people just put like: "She walked over and sat down." That is their post. Whole post; nothing else. I don't like the look of that, personally, because it's not descriptive enough. Yes, I am the kind of person that enjoys long paragraphs.

This was a little confusing to write out, so it's not very based on, but basically what I believe is that short posts are not approved by me.

I just don't favor short roleplay posts because you can't get anything out of it. "The wolf sat down." Good for it! But how am I supposed to respond to that?

Person: *Sits down on a rock*
Me: The wolf trotted towards the loner, her lanky legs striding gracefully over the flat terrain. Her electric lime green eyes, which seemed to glow in the rapidly approaching twilight, evaluated the canine perched upon the stone, her expression stolid.
Person: *Looks up*

It just gets boring when you have nothing to go off of. If you're only given one thing to respond to, you can only respond to that one thing, rather than multiple things. "Person" could have said something about looking up, the expression on their character's face, and even their character's thoughts about my character at first sight.  It's just hard to write more about something, when there isn't a whole lot to write about. I could go into a whole spheal about my character sitting down and watching the loner, but that's boring. :/ Need to throw something new into the mix. I could have just left it at "The wolf trotted towards the loner," but where's the sustenance in that?

Well we can't all be Ernest Hemmingway. Not everyone has the same roleplay skills or isn't as experienced as you. I've roleplayed with people who made posts just as short as the examples you gave. Some of them turned out to be fun and friendly, and became good roleplay buddies with me. And since I gave them a chance, they've improved their roleplay skills.


I really don't mind seeing short posts in a roleplay that is supposed to be "literate". I have seen people put the -s- at the end of their "short" post, even when the post was 3-4 sentences long. That post wasn't short! Not to me it wasn't. But I guess as far as they're concerned, a post that is less than 4 sentences or lines long is considered short.

When I roleplay, I try not be so long-winded with the posts I make. If I can't think of a nice "long" roleplay post to say, I'm not going to bother trying to make it look long and complicated. Me and my roleplay friends don't judge each other about it. I honestly don't mind if they make short posts because we do it all the time.
 
What I don't like is when people make a big deal out of it. "OMG that was so short!" or "That was too short. Make your posts longer," or "You're illiterate because your posts are short!" I especially don't like it when people get labeled as illiterate because their post is like 2-3 sentences long. They get called illiterate even if they used proper puncuatios, grammar, spelling, etc. Get over yourselves! It's not considered illiterate if you're using proper spelling, grammer, and punctuations!" It also doesn't give you the right to bully someone for making their post short and simple.