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Kung

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 3, 2006
453
454
I've got a lot of friends who post on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

They all post one sentence per line.

I assume it's to heighten impact of their statements.

And maybe make things easier for people to read.

But I'm not sure.

I dunno.

;)

Seriously though...what is the deal with this posting method? I won't say that it doesn't have its usage...but I'm seeing an increasing number of posts across a variety of media where EVERY. SINGLE. SENTENCE has its own line, and it's getting to the point where it flat turns me off of wanting to read any of their posts at all. ("High Performance" coaches and people who write blogs and/or want to attract viewers seem to utilize this posting method a lot more.)

Am I alone here in my disdain for this?
 

Macky-Mac

macrumors 68040
May 18, 2004
3,529
2,586
I've got a lot of friends who post on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

They all post one sentence per line.

I assume it's to heighten impact of their statements.

And maybe make things easier for people to read.

But I'm not sure.

I dunno.

;)

Seriously though...what is the deal with this posting method? I won't say that it doesn't have its usage...but I'm seeing an increasing number of posts across a variety of media where EVERY. SINGLE. SENTENCE has its own line, and it's getting to the point where it flat turns me off of wanting to read any of their posts at all. ("High Performance" coaches and people who write blogs and/or want to attract viewers seem to utilize this posting method a lot more.)

Am I alone here in my disdain for this?

Certainly your first section was easier to read than your almost TL/DR second section 😁
 
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Starfia

macrumors 6502a
Apr 11, 2011
946
658
I actually haven't encountered it much among acquaintances, but it reminds me of the format of BBC headline articles. (Visit bbc.com and select any top story.)
 

Kung

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 3, 2006
453
454
Certainly your first section was easier to read than your almost TL/DR second section 😁

You got me there. :D

Seriously though...I know of 4 or 5 people who do this. All but one are 'high performance coaches.' I suppose the writing style is meant to maximize the impact of the sentences or something. *shrug*

Which I don't mind...but not every sentence needs an impact focus. LOL
 

Kung

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 3, 2006
453
454

Yeah, I noticed they do it as well, although even there, the BBC articles have actual paragraphs. Meanwhile, I ran across a post the other day on a site comprised of ten sentences. *EVERY* sentence had its own line. LOL
 

laptech

macrumors 68040
Apr 26, 2013
3,600
4,003
Earth
A huge majority of social media users use mobile devices to post messages and the down side to using mobile devices is the screen size, the fact they are small so to be able to see posted messages more clearly people post using one line at a time.
 
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Kung

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 3, 2006
453
454
While I don’t do a sentence per line, I also try and avoid the wall of text.

Oh, agreed for sure. I can be/have been guilty of that, but I also distinctly remember from my English Comp classes that I'm NOT supposed to do that. 😆
 

Spaceboi Scaphandre

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2022
3,414
8,096
I'm starting to wonder if the formatting of the post is to catch the eye of doomscrollers. With feeds being so massive full of random posts, many of which we skip, by making the post longer it stands out from the crowd. Works on Twitter...assuming it's not too big it gets skipped for being too long didn't read.

This is why I always had the mindset of Twitter being a great place to learn writing skills, since you have only 280 characters so you gotta make your posts count, gotta think outside the box to get your point across. And then Elon had to ruin it...
 
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Mousse

macrumors 68040
Apr 7, 2008
3,509
6,742
Flea Bottom, King's Landing
I've got a lot of friends who post on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

They all post one sentence per line.

I assume it's to heighten impact of their statements.

And maybe make things easier for people to read.

But I'm not sure.

I dunno.

;)

Seriously though...what is the deal with this posting method?
Maybe they think they're being poetic.😅😐

I know people who think syllable count is the only thing when it comes to writing a haiku.😓 For the Pete's sake, don't inflict what you think is a haiku on others.😬 You can do so once you learn how to write a proper haiku.
I won't say that it doesn't have its usage...but I'm seeing an increasing number of posts across a variety of media where EVERY. SINGLE. SENTENCE has its own line, and it's getting to the point where it flat turns me off of wanting to read any of their posts at all. ("High Performance" coaches and people who write blogs and/or want to attract viewers seem to utilize this posting method a lot more.)
The one sentence line works if there is a build up in the preceding paragraph. It's the finishing move. The Rock doesn't start with the Rock Bottom. Sailor Moon doesn't use the Moon Tiara Action until after the other sailor senshi has weaken the youma with their attacks first.
Am I alone here in my disdain for this?
I hear ya, brutha. It took me along time to finish reading Milton's Paradise Lost because every sentence has its own line.🤪 Not really. It took me a long time because I'm an uncultured philistine with a distaste for classical literature.🙃
 
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Kung

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 3, 2006
453
454
Maybe they think they're being poetic.😅😐

I know people who think syllable count is the only thing when it comes to writing a haiku.😓 For the Pete's sake, don't inflict what you think is a haiku on others.😬 You can do so once you learn how to write a proper haiku.

The one sentence line works if there is a build up in the preceding paragraph. It's the finishing move. The Rock doesn't start with the Rock Bottom. Sailor Moon doesn't use the Moon Tiara Action until after the other sailor senshi has weaken the youma with their attacks first.

I hear ya, brutha. It took me along time to finish reading Milton's Paradise Lost because every sentence has its own line.🤪 Not really. It took me a long time because I'm an uncultured philistine with a distaste for classical literature.🙃

I promise I won't
Write a haiku to annoy
you. Whoops, blew it. Doh!

;)

Seriously though...I agree 100%. The haiku analogy is spot on. Judicious use of the build-up using the one-liner posting style is OK...but man, using it for EVERY SINGLE post because It'll Have More Impact®™ is just silly.
 
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compwiz1202

macrumors 604
May 20, 2010
7,389
5,741
I honestly wouldn't and may prefer it as long as it doesn't make it go into multiple screens where I need to keep scrolling. I just move on if someone posts on FB with a huge wall of text that goes for like 2 or 3+ screens
 

usagora

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2017
4,869
4,451
People should stick to good old fashioned paragraphs. I guess I'd rather see a fairly short post with one sentence per line than a wall of text from someone who hasn't learned how to use paragraphs, though, if forced to choose.
 
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