Does anyone else wish there was a smaller character limit on answers?

Question

Some of these answers are just getting ridiculously long. Does anyone else agree?

Answer 1

Yes!!! The character limit here seems like not limited...but sometimes their questions need long explanations too.......Aighhh!! Don't know...it is good or bad...

Answer 2

No.... it is a pain when someone posts an entire wikipedia article or something, but some questions can be answered with only a few words, and some need more attention, if you need help with an issue, and need more information, would you keep a poster from being able to provide it, if they have already reached thier alloted characters? What if no one else has the information you are looking for, and the person who does can't post any more, would that defeat the purpose of why you asked a question in the first place? I just go past posts that are really way too long.

Answer 3

NO.

Some answers DO need terribly long explanations to strike the point like any essay at school. Some are answerable by a few words. It's really up to the question.

Some are short

e.g. Q:Why?
A: Why Not?

Others require terribly long answers....

e.g.

What sort of character and background did the Great General of China, Guan Yu possess that makes him so extremely popular in Ancient China and in the modern world China, which led him to be a character for the PS2 game series Dynasty Warriors?

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Do not limit the question limit either. Some questions need a lot of clarification too before one can solve.

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btw, this is one of those questions which require long answers in order to strike a point.(LOL)

*However, copying and pasting MANY Bible, Quran passages is just TOO much sometimes, at other times though, it is a NECCESSITY. But this is, after all, a Religion and Spirituality section and people must do what they must to give the asker the BEST possible info.
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Answer 4

Sometimes a question requires a lengthy answer. Too many people will ask a question they do not understand the magnitude of. Some people will ask a question and then in the additional details will add even more questions or challenge people who answered. This requires more room to answer. I am not in favor of reducing the size of the answers. This would only result in limiting a person's ability to answer.

I am not in favor of the cut and paste answers though. A lot of times they do not even answer the question they are answering. I really am not in favor of cut and paste questions. I think it is pretty idiotic to ask the same question in five sections (not all of these are the spam ones either).

Answer 5

If there's time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following:

Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question.
Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like "good" or "successful," see if you could be more specific: Why is something "good"; What makes something "successful"?
Does my thesis pass the 'So What?' test? If a reader's first response is, "So what?" then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
Does my thesis pass the how or why test? If a reader's first response is "how? or why? your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.
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Examples
Suppose you are taking a course on 19th-century America, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: Compare and contrast the reasons why the North and South fought the Civil War. You turn on the computer and type out the following:

The North and South fought the Civil War for many reasons, some of which were the same and some different.

This weak thesis restates the question without providing any additional information. You will expand on this new information in the body of the essay, but it is important that the reader know where you are heading. A reader of this weak thesis might think, "What reasons? How are they the same? How are they different?" Ask yourself these same questions and begin to compare Northern and Southern attitudes ("The South believed slavery was right, and the North thought slavery was wrong"). Now, push your comparison toward an interpretation-why did one side think slavery was right and the other side think it was wrong? You look again at the evidence and you decide the North believed slavery was immoral while the South believed it upheld their way of life. You write:

While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions.

Now you have a working thesis! Included in this working thesis is a reason for the war and some idea of how the two sides disagreed over this reason. As you write the essay, you will probably begin to characterize these differences more precisely and your working thesis may seem vague. Maybe you decide that both sides fought for moral reasons, they just saw morality in different contexts. You end up revising the working thesis into a final thesis that really captures the argument in your paper:

While both Northerners and Southerners believed they fought against tyranny and oppression, Northerners focused on the oppression of slaves while Southerners defended their own rights to property and self-government.

Compare this to the original weak thesis. This final thesis presents a way of interpreting evidence that illuminates the significance of the question. Keep in mind that this is one of many possible interpretations of the Civil War-it is not the one and only right answer to the question. There isn't a right answer; there are only strong and weak thesis statements and strong and weak uses of evidence.

Let's look at another example. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn. "This will be easy," you think. "I loved Huckleberry Finn!" You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

Why is this thesis weak? Think about what the reader would expect from the essay that follows: you will most likely provide a general, appreciative summary of Twain's novel. The question did not ask you to summarize, it asked you to analyze. Your professor is probably not interested in your opinion of the novel; instead, she wants you to think about why it's such a great novel-what do Huck's adventures tell us about life, about America, about coming of age, about race relations, etc.? First, the question asks you to pick an aspect of the novel that you think is important to its structure or meaning-for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

Here's a working thesis with potential: you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation; however, it's still not clear what your analysis will reveal. Your reader is intrigued, but is still thinking, "So what? What's the point of this contrast? What does it signify?" Perhaps you are not sure yet, either. That's fine-begin to work on comparing scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck's actions and reactions. Eventually you will be able to clarify for yourself, and then for the reader, why this contrast matters. After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain's Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave "civilized" society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Nope I think they are fine the way they are.

Answer 6

Yes there should be a limit. Some posters leave incredibly long answers that I'm sure no one reads.

Answer 7

It would be a good idea, I think. Or, reserve the extra characters for members with higher ratings who give decent and real answers and/or ask decent and real questions that need the space.

Answer 8

yeah--I don't read the really long ones. I try to keep my answers short most of the time.

Answer 9

Agreed. I don't want to read War & Peace just to see someone's answer. 400-500 characters is fine most of the time.

Answer 10

Yes, there is a certain religion I'll shall not name that copy's and pastes a half of the Koran (oh, did I say that) every time they answer a question. I don't know why. If they are too lengthy, I don't even read them.