From OTC: List-volume discussion (way long)

[estrilda_wolfegg]

 The thought of a list made up entirely of short, 
> > conversational posts gives me the shudders!  I can't think of 
> > anything more... teenybopper.  

I think my suggestion for short, organized opinions, and summaries 
linked to a categorized archive might have been misunderstood by 
some of the responders.  For context, please note that my favorite 
way to read posts is to message index and then expand messages so 
that they all line up in full down the page.  This is not possible 
on the main list because of posts that scroll on literally for feet 
beyond that which would make Hermione blush. 
I do love the insightfulness of many of the theories on the list, 
but frankly, from my background as an undergraduate instructor of 
research and writing (really), although many of the longest ones 
cite sources to support ideas, they are obviously rough drafts that 
have never been proofread, organized, or edited by the author. Many 
long posts include lengthy text from canon and from other essays 
that could be much more easily cited to the source if we used an 
archive.  And don't even get me started on the sophistry involved in 
many of the three thousand word essays suggesting a simple theory.  
Shorter posts (even a 1000 word suggested limit) and archived posts 
(inspiring more author investment in proofreading and organization?) 
lend themselves more easily to self-correction and less circles.
It is also a Herculean task to find a specific theory on the board 
any length of time after the thread waned.  I am not suggesting we 
start flip discussions.  I am suggesting that perhaps members could 
present their more verbose opinions by referencing a section of an 
archive discussing similar ideas (thereby avoiding rehashing worn 
out ones), and posting research marvels somewhere we can read them 
at leisure and actually find them later.  
Estrilda
(who comes to HPFGU in part to escape her own teenaged son and his 
friends, and just exceeded her own suggested length by a good 40 
words. Oops.)