June 19, 2004
ON EXTENDED ENTRIES - UPDATED 5-24-05
In the comments to this post, _Jon of We Swear complained about one of my long posts. He thought I should put it in the extended entry so it would be easier for him to get on to better stuff and not have to scroll, scroll, scroll on past the junk.
It's a fair complaint, and depending on the commentary I get here, I may consider using it in the future. Not using the extended entry is a personal preference of mine. Putting stuff in an extended entry is an inconvenience to the people who want to read it. It's worse for people whose extended entries open in a new window [looking at Matty O'Blackfive], because then the reader has to wait for a new page to load (a serious bummer for folks on dial-up). I have drop-down extended entries, so it's not AS bad, but that's still a mouse click and an interruption of the narrative flow for the people who want to read something. If I DON'T use the extended entry, it's a convenience for the interested reader, and the burden goes to someone who - for some unimaginable reason - chooses to forego the pleasure of my brilliant witticisms. Someone's gotta suck it up, so the "flaming bag of dog-poo" prize goes to who decline to perform their readerly duties.
Now, I certainly think that extended entries have their place. They're excellent for hiding punchlines and graphic photos. But for text that holds no secrets or surprises, I think it's better not to use them.
So, what does everyone else think? Should I start using extended entries for long, wordy posts?
UPDATE 5-24-05: [If you've found this post useful enough to blog about, send a trackback or e-mail the permalink to me at harvolson-at-gmail.com and I'll add you to my Bad Example Groupies blogroll. See this post for details]
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Personally, I rather enjoy the many seconds of scrolling. It's fun, and an exercise in patience! Where else can you build up your patience muscles while scrolling endlessly? :) Seriously, I've got no problem with the way it is right now. Although maybe extended posts for the vicious facts of Glenn might not be a bad idea. Aaaaah ... leave it.
Hmm. I read everything you write. (Does that make me a suck up? Gonna leave me something in your will over all your other Blog children now? :-) ) I don't think I have that extended entry option for blogspot and I write a lot, which means everyone is stuck scrolling through my streams of consiousness. If you write something I don't want to read, I have no issues with doing the power scroll. My vote: Keep as is.
I vote, keep as is. I'm with you; it's the folks who DON'T want to read me who should be inconvenienced (and really, how hard is it to push "Page Down"?). I'm with you on extended for graphical entries, or for REALLY long entries, or if I posted 20 posts a day on a wide range of topics, but that ain't me. And it ain't you.
I like the way it is NOW. I'm with you; extended entries are for specific things. Besides, if they don't want to read all the post, what are they doing here? ;)
I am also anti-extended entry as a general rule (with the exceptions you listed). There is this one blog that puts everything past the first sentence in extended entry, but I don't remember who it is because I stopped reading it...
I'm with _Jon on this one.
If you have the show/hide extended entry script, I don't see what the inconvenience is for someone to click the link to roll it down.
Face it... your writing sucks and not everyone wants to hear all your drivel... hide as much of it as possible and you will get more readers
Oh... Phuck Phrnak, arrogant little prick that he is.
Actually, the only thing I want in the extended entries is the drivel relating to "Evil Glen".
As much as I think FrankJ is a great comic-writer, I don't see him post nearly as much on his site as the rest of the "Blog Alliance". If the "leader" doesn't actively support it, why do so many talented, gifted people fill space with it?
To me, scrolling past something I don't wanna read is work. Me no like work. :)
Besides, like I wrote in a second comment, I was cranky when I wrote that. I don't feel that strongly one way or another.
I don't have a really strong preference one way or the other. Clicking seems like slightly less trouble than scrolling unless it's one of those blogs where nearly every post has an extended entry. On the other hand, the problem I have with extended entries is that there are so many ways of doing it. If it's the straightforward open entry/close entry form it's okay but as you said, some open a new window and I know of at least one blog where you have to click the Back button. None of those are a huge burden. It's getting pretty bad when people are so danged lazy they complain about an extra click or two, but it is a little annoying when you're reading a lot of blogs and every one you go to works a little different.
Hmmm... Bartender's right. I should put my entire stinky blog in the extended entry and save the world a lot of misery :-D
_Jon - as for why keep doing the Alliance thing, well, I'm just curious to see how long it will drag out. It gets weak, but it won't quite die. Right now it's pretty much devolved into self-parody, but some people still find it amusing. That and it gives me a chance to bust the Bartender's chops once in a while :-)
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