Do You Read Only the Headline or the Entire Discussion Post?
@capirani (2840)
United States
August 11, 2008 8:26pm CST
When you see a discussion headline that appeals to you, do you take the time to read the entire discussion or do you just read the headline? Or do you read part of the post and just conclude you know what it is about?
I sometimes get responses to my discussions where it seems obvious by the response that they did not read the entire discussion to find out what it was about. I have had some who evidently read the first part, but their response ended up not having anything to do with the actual points of the discussion. The first part was an introduction only that lead to the main point. They totally missed it. Another discussion the response was an answer to the headline which was only that, a headline. And it did not get into the real question of the post, but was only a part of it. So that response had nothing to do with answering the question.
Has this happened to you? What do you do when you get responses like that? For one of mine, I thanked them for responding but tried to be nice about pointing out that they missed the point. For another one I just commented on their response and then added that the question I was trying to get an answer for was a bit different. How do you handle this kind of response?
3 people like this
21 responses
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
12 Aug 08
I first will read the headline to see if the topic would
possibly be of interest and then if I think it might I
continue on to read the whole thing. I do not answer a
discussion without reading the whole thing carefully.
I am not about to respond to something without knowing
what it is I'm supposed to be talking about. I wouldn't
like anyone doing that to me. The whole point in answering
a discussion is to be able to add something of substance
to it. Too many people take the short cuts and end up
posting about nothing and wasting other peoples time.
@foxyfire33 (10005)
• United States
12 Aug 08
People do that all the time and it's so aggravating! It really shows who are here just for the money and who actually care about what they are posting.
When I get a response like that. I point out, mostly nicely, that it's obvious the person only read the headline not the whole discussion and that I'd appreciate it if they would go back and read before commenting again...and I remind them that the rules do state we should read everything before responding.
I rarely get a second response from them because, again, most are just here for the money and don't take the time to read their comments. Once in awhile though one will come back and apologize and give me a real response. They usually use the excuse that they are new and didn't realize they should read everything.
2 people like this
@capirani (2840)
• United States
12 Aug 08
I had one come back and apologize like that. I can think of one discussion where a main word in the headline was mispelled and it took on a whole different meaning than what the discussion was about. I am glad I read the discussion because I was a bit confused by the first few lines. Honestly, had the word been spelled correctly it would not have been a topic of interest to me. But the misspelled word caught my attention and I thought it was a topic I wanted to know more about. That is just another reason for people to read beyond the heading.
1 person likes this
@academic2 (7000)
• Uganda
12 Aug 08
sometimes, if the post is a singleline, I dont bother reading content, but if it is a paragraph, then inorder to undersatnd, you must read everything first efore you respond qualitatively
1 person likes this
@myliezl0903 (2726)
• Philippines
12 Aug 08
yes you are actuallly right! i've been a reader of discussion here in mylot especially if i find the topic really interesting., i've read the whole discussions as well as the comment of mylotter., for some just to get an additional earnings or point they just run it up and answer it as quickly as they can without even trying to read the whole content of the discussion., well, i just ignore those kind kind of answer., and still thank them for responding into my topic., i don't want to be rude to people so i stay nice to them., but if its really irrelevant to my topic then i guess i'll try to give him/her a bit of punch by just telling them in a sarcastic way that they misunderstood the topic.,lol! hmmm, im still avoiding it! Ü i don't want to be rude to anyone! anyway, this is just for fun,. if they don't want to read my postings then it is up to them.,its their lost not mine anyway!~ lol! 
@capirani (2840)
• United States
12 Aug 08
Yes, it is their loss if they don't really know what they are responding to.
@revellanotvanella (4033)
• United States
12 Aug 08
First, If I can even read it because sometimes you will come along some discussions where its hard but I will try my best to understand what a person wants me to answer but this even happens for myself where Ill posts discussions 2am in the morning and my eyes are crossing and its continually harder to spell, hehe, am I completely missing your point of conversation? Most of the time I will read the beginning or end of a discussion post to get the idea and what I am answering but if it is a person under my friends list posting the discussion I will more often try to read every part of the discussion post.
@capirani (2840)
• United States
12 Aug 08
I agree that there are many discussions where I can't even tell what they are trying to discuss. I don't respond to those myself. I wouldn't want to say something and be way off base about what it is all about.
@Jessbowers (391)
• United States
12 Aug 08
I have not gotten any responses like that and I hope I haven't given any like that. I do try to always read the whole post. Sometimes,Ido admit,my son grabs my attention and when I look back to the screen I am not sure where I stoped reading and may skip a line or two. I also do not read all of the responses because I don't want to feel like I am copying anyone elses response. I tend to wait till I have submitted my own response. I think you did good with your responses with those that didn't really read and get the whole message. Better then just being rude. I promise from now on to make sure I read the whole message before I respond.
1 person likes this
@lkbooi (16070)
• Malaysia
13 Aug 08
Hi capirani, in the earlier days when I was still new at mylot here, I always responded to a discussion after reading the headline, especially those lengthy ones. Later on I came to know that what the hosts of the discussions asking in their contents are totally different from that in the headlines of the discussions. So nowadays I always answer a discussion after reading the whole story of it instead of the headline. Hope that I could hit the right nail when replying the topic. 
It is quite normal to receive such responses here. Anyway I appreciate their responses and try my best to leave related comments on them. Very often we keep on chatting with thing which is totally not related to the subject of the discussion 
I think what we like to be here is to seek fun and it doesn’t matter whether it’s strictly relevant to the original topic of the discussion.
posting and take care.
It is quite normal to receive such responses here. Anyway I appreciate their responses and try my best to leave related comments on them. Very often we keep on chatting with thing which is totally not related to the subject of the discussion I think what we like to be here is to seek fun and it doesn’t matter whether it’s strictly relevant to the original topic of the discussion.
posting and take care.
@capirani (2840)
• United States
12 Aug 08
I also only read the ones that catch my interest, but once I have opened that discussion, if I continue to be interested as I read it, I will read everything that the person wrote before I am sure I know what they are talking about. The headline alone may be misleading. Especially if there are misspelled words that can lead to a totally different idea. But I have found many discussions where the headline was a bit misleading as to what the main point was.
@checapricorn (16061)
• United States
12 Aug 08
Hi capirani,
[i]I do read the whole discussion before I will drop my response..I have tried receiving responses who seems to miss a lot of detailed from my post and like you I will drop a comment to thank them as well as ask a question and most of the time, I will get the answer!
If that will happen to me, maybe I will continue the conversation but if I feel like the person is just there to earn more points then I will stop giving comment![/i]
@ersmommy1 (12588)
• United States
12 Aug 08
This has happened to me as well. And I have seen it frequently with others. I like the way you handle it when it happens to you. I generally move on to someone who [/b]has[b]read my discussion. I just ignore it.
@iskayz (5420)
• Philippines
12 Aug 08
Hi there!
I do try to read the entire discussion first bcause I respond to it. I make sure also I know how to respond to it and as much as possible I know a lot more of the topic.
If I receive a response not related to my post I'd probably just ignore it. I'm careful cause I might offend the responder if I correct him/her.
If Iever come across a started discussion that's too long to read and understand, most of the time I choose not to answer it though it sounds interesting. Especially if I have little time to spend here so I guess I have a little chance of making the wrong response to a post.
Ciao!
I do try to read the entire discussion first bcause I respond to it. I make sure also I know how to respond to it and as much as possible I know a lot more of the topic.
If I receive a response not related to my post I'd probably just ignore it. I'm careful cause I might offend the responder if I correct him/her.
If Iever come across a started discussion that's too long to read and understand, most of the time I choose not to answer it though it sounds interesting. Especially if I have little time to spend here so I guess I have a little chance of making the wrong response to a post.
Ciao!
@musiclover505 (122)
• United States
12 Aug 08
Before I answer I read the discussion but not all of the responses that have been posted. Sometimes I will skim the responses or sometime I just start typing my own response without reading the previous ones.
I haven't encountered anyone missing the point of my discussion yet in responses since I haven't posted many yet ^_^ But I think its nice of you that you respond to them anyways and try to be nice about it. That's probably how I would handle it as well if I chose to respond to them at all.
@Mayuko (1268)
• United States
18 Sep 12
I read both the headline & the entire discussion. It can be tempting to not read the entire post, but it is vital. I would hate to look silly by not properly answering the question or point that the original poster was trying to get across.
I haven't had this happen which any discussion I have started, but I have seen it with others' discussions. If this happened to me, I would probably reply asking if they read the entire post because they did not properly respond to what the point of the post is.
@angelface23 (2494)
• United States
12 Aug 08
sometimes I only read the headline. I usually at least skim through so I know what we are talking about. I can see where not reading it would make your response have nothing to do with the actual discussion. That has happened to me before.
@aRiSdGrEaT (621)
• Philippines
12 Aug 08
I should admit, that I am just responding to those appealing when I see a discussion titles. Those headline that I can relate and have to contribute into. But I always also see to it that i read the whole story before jumping into a response.
So far, I did not experience those inappropriate responses. Good to know that still you are being nice to them. If that will happen to me, I will also copy the way you handle it. Thanks
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
12 Aug 08
I read the entire discussion but I do speed read. If there are a lot of points hidden in one big long paragraph, it is easy to miss some of them. Yep, it's happened to me. When somebody entirely misses the point, I simply tell them that they missed the point. After that, if they choose to go back and re-read the discussion and leave another comment, great. That doesn't happen often though!
@creative_genius (992)
•
12 Aug 08
I read at least the first two pages, noone really answers my discussions as I'm fairly new and haven't posted very much. In fact I am still getting used to the whole site. If anyone didn't read the whole thread and said something that made no sense then I would probably ignore it.
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
12 Aug 08
I always read the entire post before answering. I do get a lot of responses that are like that. I hate it. I just handle it the same way you said you do. Tell them they missed the point, but in the nicest way I can. It's so funny though. It really shows how lazy people are.
@sparkliquid (58)
• Malaysia
12 Aug 08
dang good quest, most people write for earning, so they only read headline instead of entire post. =D i m the 1st option.
