I wonder if any of you would like to SCROLL slowly down this thread and get a “visual” of the various comments. Don’t read – just look.

Which ones are appealing? Which ones are NOT appealing.

I believe that the human brain has an aversion to paragraphs that are over 5 or 6 lines long.

Breaking the writing up into short punchy paragraphs overcomes the FIRST barrier. THEN – you have to write something interesting.

Why do so many people have to write MASSIVE paragraphs? Are some of you lawyers?

HUGE paragraphs have less chance of being read. They will be skimmed at best by most people.

Agree or disagree?

Gary

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I agree with you completely Gary. But those who want to show us how brilliant they are may not. :)

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I agree with Gary’s point and it is well taken.

I would also have another thought or personal note and that would be that articles that look like a “Long Sales Letter” no longer appeal to me and I no longer read stuff, usually that is formatted like a long sales letter.

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READ THIS BEFORE POSTING FURTHER PLEASE.
READ THIS BEFORE POSTING FURTHER PLEASE.

There are now 49 comments on this blog entry.

Everyone who participated by leaving a comment receives an automatic email notification upon each comment.

That means each person who posts as the thread gets larger should feel a higher personal responsibility to add significant value to the conversation — and that conversation needs to stay ‘on point’.

It would be helpful if the point that each person wants to share could be digested in very small nuggets.

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If I can use a metaphor from actual experience in martial arts:

At age 72 I still do full speed live sword practice. Every time I go into kata, solo practice, at speed I am accutely aware that one lapse of focus on my part means I can cut into my other hand, leg, whatever is in the way of a wayward sword.

Do I have your attention?

The general principle I get from this practice is that to do the task in the most effective way you must have focus and oneness of being and oneness of purpose.

If you don’t your are practicing loss in life.

Without focus you lose your purpose for the task, you lose your energy, you lose others.

A point of martial arts practice is to ground awareness in material reality.

In article writing to convey a point, if your focus is not greater than the potential reader, then how are you going to earn the reader’s respect?

Why not be an example of the values you are committed to practicing, whether all that good at it or not compared to others?

Just as in live sword practice, where one motion follows another, so in placing each word why not be aware of how one word follows another?

The meta level is in my estimation being aware of how you are being aware.

Until you develop meta-awareness your ideas and your issues are like straw men, distractions from inner stillness and being.

Sorry! I laugh a bit! Got carried away with spiritual meaning!

There is no such thing, of course . . .

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Strephon, you had me at martial arts but lost me around paragraph 7. :)

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560 net views indicates a strong interest in the subject and I found a lot of bonus value in this thread, thank you. The value of a post is a very subjective matter. I can recall when a blog post at EA got a half dozen comments typically. Maybe we can get back to the good old days.

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Strephon,

I really enjoyed your “Full Speed Sword” analogy and after going thru your entire website (quite impressive) I see where you are coming from.

It makes sense to think of article writing in terms of full-speed sword analogies and that really is on topic, because each motion, leads to the next and then the final thrust would be the reader “clicking the link” to you byline.

I can see how you have taken your martial arts mastery and are able to use that in your article and book writing to insure flow of information and thought conveyance to the reader. Great Stuff. Some day perhaps more of us might be able to master your skills. Your articles speak for themselves to your ability to provide the proper density without destroying the balance between yourself and your reader, as you are one with the words you have submitted.

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Ed,

This thread is now the 3rd in the list of:

* 10 Most Commented Posts:
o Article Submission-Management Beta – 77 comments
o Landing Page Quality Scoring – 63 comments
o Dense Writing Does Not Get Read – 55 comments
o Professional Writers vs. Article Writing and Marketing – 49 comments
o New Home Page Design, 79 New Categories! – 41 comments
o Article Comments Kick – 36 comments
o Article Marketing Benefits Changes – 35 comments
o Puggle Article Dog – 33 comments
o EzineArticles – Born in November – 33 comments
o Article Title Mis-Spellings – 32 comments

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:-) Thanks Chris,

I think you have my number. And where does this post stand in top ten view counts? No rest for the weary. :-0

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Getting back to topic with the question originally put forth here:

“How can you make your articles more fun to read and with less eye strain for your reader?”…

Most of my articles are no longer than 350 words. The paragraphs are broken up and I try to focus on the point or benefit I conveyed in the headline of the article. I give examples. People love examples.

I tell them how I solved a particular problem. They also love this. I don’t try to solve the world’s problems in 350 words. Instead, I try to shine light on one specific thing.

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Edward,

I think I am aligning myself with your way of thinking on the word counts of 350. I think that it is a good number to try to shoot for. Of course if your article does get over 400 or closer to 300, well that is also okay.

I do believe that when a reader glances at that, they are more apt to read an article that length. And commit themselves to reading thru it. Indeed, as long as you do like you said; Examples, solutions, stories, analogies along with tid-bits of important stuff, they will continue reading.

Once they start with an example they will continue to read it, thus you have won the reader and have a better chance to increase click-thru rates. Would you say that an article of 350 words should have five to seven paragraphs? Would you think that breaking it up with bullets of three points of contention or a sub-heading might be smart too?

Your strategy must be working Edward, as you keep writing articles and people keep reading them and clicking away to your site?

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Lance, my articles are around 350 words because that’s pretty much what it takes me to get my point across and make it interesting for the reader (hopefully.)

But, I will read articles of 500-1000 words or more IF they are interesting to me. “Me” being the operative word here. What’s interesting to me may not be to someone else. There’s the rub.

Fortunately, I know who my audience is. I think I know what they want to read and I try to give them what they want. In return, I’m rewarded with what I guess you could call a fan base…loyal readers who want what I have to offer. This is what most writers want.

I’m sure you have your “base” of readers as well.

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Golly gosh,

Has anybody noticed how the paragraphs have suddenly become shorter and more pleasing to the eye since my comment at #51?

I actually read them all because they were not so damned confronting.

Folks if you want other people to read what you have written then make it EASY for their eyes to follow. Then, just then, you might get to second base.

I think we are onto something here.

Gary

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Indeed, I too would read an article of 500-1000 words if the topic was of interest to me. And with that said if the targeted market was really interested then they might commit to reading the article, but the author must be very good to keep their interest high, or they might leave. So it is a much safer bet to stick to the 300-450 word counts if possible.

Now then if the reader is truly interested in the subject matter then would they stay if it were as hard to read as a Bible Verse, Shakespeare or Flowery Letters of our Founding Fathers, but then again even a dedicated reader of the subject matter might still choose to leave if the density was wrong; Run-ons, Virginia Wolf syndrome, too many complex words, too many unfamiliar buzz words, too high a vocabulary or a borderline schizofrenic (like the Hobbit does but within the paragraph) or even an emulator author trying to mimmick the Sci Fi Fantasy writing of lets say C.S Lewis or the author of Dune, JRR Tolkien or others.

Fact is that will not work in online article writing and look at the one sentence run-on of that last paragraph I wrote. Well that does not work well, even if the reader is interested in discussing online article author density strategies. Giving the reader/customer what they want is smart. The questions I am now wondering are;

1.) What does the reader really want?

2.) Is the reader who wants less density, really your customer?

3.) If there are more than one type of reader, should you write an article for each?

4.) Has any one ever done a voluntary survey of EzineArticle readers? If so, would only those who prefer low density articles partake in the actual survey, as high density readers are not interested?

And the reason I mention this is after re-reading this entire thread everyone here is stating they do read higher density articles, that is to say using the dense definition as higher grade level reading, longer articles and more guts to the actual content?

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Actually Gary,

Having rounded second and third base and jogged in for the Home Run Grand Slam with so many incoming hits to my Think Tank Forum website, that I had to take down my byline link, I think I might counter your comment with a different personal perspective and opinion on the matter.

You see my theory is that one-two sentence paragraphs can detract from an article. It may appear to be easy reading, and perhaps easier to digest, but at the same time you do not wish to look cheap to the reader. In other words in those short sweet posts, easy reading, eye-pleasing comments, is there any juice?

If a reader looks at an article, which has only one line space, one line space, one line space; then are they apt to think that there is really any meat in it? Will they read it or commit to reading it? Or will they assume it is another salesy article?

Generally, I find one-line-space articles questionable on first glance. They immediately raise a red flag with me. I generally will not read them unless I am certain that they apply to the exact subject I am interested in. In fact in my personal view I do not find them pleasing at all, but rather insulting to my intellect, as if the author thinks they can bait me with BS or trite-ness.

So, I am now wonder “golly gosh” if perhaps there are different tastes out there and different types of readers. And in my personal view, I cannot write “one-line-space” articles that you believe are more pleasing to the eye, because in my opinion that lowers my standards and tells my reader that I consider them a fool. Now this is my opinion of course so do not karate-chop me for having it.

And to that point in school we do not teach kids in literature to write “one-sentence-space” or “two-sentence-space” articles. Now, I understand the world is evolving and online article marketing is about “Selling Something” but so were many other strategies like “the long sales letters”, but are some people simply less-swayed by all that now?

Is the table turning again on the one-line space or two-line space articles? Some people and I am not alone find them cheap looking. This is why I will not write like that. Of course Gary, if it works for your cassette tape sales and your readers like that, then you must do what works, so I understand where you are coming from of course.

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Lance,

All I was saying is that short paragraphs get read a lot easier than a massive monologue of text.

If what you are doing works for you then keep doing it. Good on you.

I was just making a general observation.

Gary

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Gary,

I agree with your opinion actually of breaking up the text to make it eye-friendly, but only to a point of course. Perhaps not breaking it up as much as you might, but still I concur with your position.

And Gary, well, I totally agree with you that each author MUST do what works for them. When you find something that works as you have, go for it. Balls to the wall, make it happen and do not look back. So, we are one with that concept, after all you are speaking basic common sense to those of us who truly understand the online article marketing model.

Be well Gary, continued success in helping others achieve what you already have. It is great to be able to help others while running your own business. Much Kudos indeed.

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Maybe instead of all this speculation about what readers want, we should all analyze our ten most published articles.

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Ed,

That is a very good idea.

But I wonder if it is “readability” or subject matter. Like… “How to Get Rich” would be a more popular topic than “An Investigation Into the Nocturnal Feeding Habits of the Great Brown Owl,” for instance.

The owl article may be brilliantly written. The get rich article could be a stinker.

Hoot hoot.

Gary

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Ed, You make a good point and perhaps then we might also realize that some categories are different than others in the popularity of Ezine Publishers?

I suppose also that Bloggers want shorter articles. Ezine Publishers want shorter articles for the most part although would also want a mixture and balance of substance and writing skill, but only because it is a reflection upon them what they pick and they know they must pick what their readers want otherwise the readers will unsubscribe right?

Indeed your question could be answered by Ezine Articles. The top 10 articles in each category with the most pick-ups? Then look at these articles;

1.) Their Word Counts’

2.) Their paragraph sizes

3.) Reading Levels

4.) Density of subject matter

Then maybe we could get to the bottom of the question or closer to the over all answer? Inquiring minds want to know. And yes, Ed, that piece of data would be highly relevant to this Density Issue? Thanks for thinking of it, as now you have me thinking again too.

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“Dense writing – no matter how important
or compelling, does not get read.”

Stupid errors – such as (in the title) putting a comma instead of a dash – makes me suspicious.

The message is not withstanding of the style. The style does override the message, no matter how important or compelling of a message you may have.

J. Michael Brown, MA

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J. Michael Brown,

What you said is interesting.

I am often suspicious of incoming email. I know it is spam or a scam or a phishing exercise because the desperado sending it commits errors that make it detectable to me – EVEN in just the few words of the subject line. There is instant recognition. Kind of like the man in the raincoat syndrome.

This has been an interesting thread with lots of contributors. I think that Dr Pauline Wallin has a lot to answer for! (just joking)

Gary

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Measuring Success

What I am getting from recent comments on the issue: ‘dense articles don’t get read’ is that we need to be more scientific, instead of stating opinions all over the place.

We need to measure success rates.

Let’s assume that the number of times an ezine article gets read is fifty percent determined by how the article is written and read, fifty percent determined by the subject matter of the article, and fifty percent determined by how effectively the article is distributed.

I know the numbers don’t add up, but so what, this is metaphorical exploration just to become clear on ideas.

Here are some of my numbers about Internet success that are open to interpretation:

-Since 8 months ago I have gone from 0 podcast listeners start to almost 40,000 podcast listeners for serious matter and not entertainment. I don’t find in the Libsyn statistics how many are repeat listeners and how many are one time download listeners but the numbers are real from them.

-This test proves to me that what I used to do in live teaching with enrolled and paying students still has effectiveness in the subject areas I do well because increasing numbers of people are downloading and know my name. Over 1000 a week now.

-Speculation. These results are for the free podcasts themselves. Now as I start with ezine articles is it possible to get the same increase as quickly in readers? Is the delivery of information different?

Thus I am vitally interested in success rate and how you evaluate this.

-Success rate in terms of sales? Just starting and earned only 500 dollars since selling The Writer’s Interface two months ago at 19.95 dollars each interface, which also costs 35.50 for the software.

-Google comparison: “Pauline Wallin“: 11,300 finds. ”Strephon Kaplan-Williams“: 18,200 finds. Thus we measure success on the Internet, but what does it mean or convert to? Are my writings and talks ‘better’ than Pauline Wallin’s, and so my style is better? Is an expert the one with the highest numbers, no matter how they are derived?

-Personally it’s fun to compare with Dr. Wallin because I did not choose to do the hard work to get a real Ph.D., but chose for two Masters degrees instead. I appreciate her stimulating quote here, and have already differed a bit with her here, what little I know of her views.

-Bottom line: Can I make a lot more money than I am now making from an Internet presence, and how to do it? I consider making money an important measure of my reality sense and a return on my investment in being on the Internet. Just having Google statistics or free podcasts statistics no longer matters.

-Thus I want to learn to write ezine articles well if they are part of being effective in earning money and not just numbers. This I don’t know about yet for my subject and style of communicating.

-Thus I would be interested in hearing from others here if they include making money as a measure of effectiveness of their ezine articles? I would like to know what the figures are for Dr. Wallin. I am hard-nosed enough as a businessperson that I don’t want to be fooled by ‘experts’ who can’t show they earn money from their writing.

To use Dr. Wallin’s terms: If your articles are dense you don’t get read. I ask even more importantly, what kind of articles get read, and also directly, make money for the writer, and how is this done? Some here are for fuller writing. Is that because you have experienced that more information leads to better sales than simple, non-dense writing?

If this is not part of this theme I leave it to Chris and all of you to say so. Money is however a measure of writing effectiveness in my eyes.

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Looks like the comments here are more valuable than Dr. Pauline Wallin’s new course!

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Alex,

Since I produced the report with Dr. Wallin, I can tell you that it’s much easier to read than this blog entry & comments… ;-) but I’m very happy that the market discussion is taking place because it provides for additional learning & discovery that Dr. Wallin and I might not have thought of for this short course.

Strephon,

First, I like that you are focusing on money as a scorecard for whether or not your investment in article writing and marketing is working…

BUT, having visited your website for 10 seconds, I am guessing you are a writer by trade and normally make money from your writing. This type of expert author typically has a hard time with the fact that article marketing is about generating qualified leads and qualified traffic back to your website as the primary reason for syndicating articles.

If article marketing was a get rich scheme, we’d have a whole different operation.

My point: Article writing & marketing in a site like ours is about generating pre-qualified traffic back to your website. It’s up to you to monetize that traffic and convert those visitors into revenue.

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Chris,

Thanks for the clarification that article writing and distribution is to generate leads back to your original website where there you sell interested readers your work.

I am developing now downloadable books and audio books and hope to have a number of them on an improved website for marketing in this coming year.

Have you done a comparison of ezine article writing and distribution versus podcasting?

Or, do you have stats that show at least a word-count comparison for what size and density article gets distributed the most?

Should we all write 250-word articles because that size gets distrubuted and read the most?

My articles so far are around 2000 words almost, like my podcasts. I do this because this amount of words, well-written or said as well, is what it takes for me to cover a subject.

Maybe Dr. Wallin’s statement is considered extreme because some of us who tend to write long believe that if we get the ‘long reader’ to our site that will be the reader who is most likely to buy our books.

Is there evidence that the ’short reader’ buys books? Why would anyone who likes to read only short articles that have a single point want to even read book-length works anymore?

Does she mean that dense is not just poor, hard-to-grasp, writing style, but also long or thorough writing style?

Should I not be publishing to the Internet long books? My only down-load book, The Writer’s Interface, now starting to sell, is 92,000 words long, but it is interactive as part of the WriteItNow software platform. So it’s not a regular style paper book.

If readers to ezine articles of mostly less than 700 words are the largest body of article readers, is this the wrong group for me and other book writers?

Should we now divide our long books into six or eight shorter Reports to sell on the Internet?

I am serious here. I have expert information. I want to sell that information as well as give some of it away for free.

Chris and Others, you must have some idea about what style of article gets distrubuted and read the most. If you do can you tell us, or have another discussion thread?

Dr. Wallin’s ‘density’ statement is dramatic but it is negative. Are you both tackling the positive also: what does work, and not just what doesn’t work?

These are my concerns, and not just at debate level. I have to put my efforts out in the most effective way to get serious readers and income.

Thanks. I am happy to be part of this hightly regarded thread, as shown by your statistics.

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Whew! For a bunch of writers this sure is a bunch of verbose verbaleeze! By now I’ve forgotten the subject, but the “thinkers” in this world (us of course) know that the information we get from our media is spooned and siphoned pap. A more comprehensive view of everything that’s happening worldwide comes from the worldwide press, especially UK. When I lived overseas BBC far outranked VOA for unbiased news and information. Fact is we are still a provincial nation that accepts sound bites as gospel because we simply are too busy for dense, and as a nation, too dense to question. Work and money are our mantras. In my last ea article I quoted a Frenchman who visited our country in the 1800s. Even then, he knew us better than we think we know us.

“As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?” —Alexis de Tocqueville, 1831

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On Dense writing.

I agree completely that it is really a rare occasion when dense articles get read in this internet age.

What makes an article interesting to read? When we are bombarded with innumerable emails and articles and pop-ups on the internet, what makes you pause and feel compelled to read an article?

Introduce a compelling idea
Well, first of all, the article should have a compelling topic or idea that is introduced in the first 5-10 seconds. Something to capture your attention and curiosity. It could be a story or an anecdote or even a statement or question to hook the readers. We all generally like stories and it is an easy way to connect with the audience. Write in a simple style and introduce a couple of your ideas surrounding the point of the story.

Break ideas into short paragraphs
Let each idea be developed into short paragraphs. I generally find it helpful to use subheadings or subtitles so that the idea jumps out at them in one glance. It is perfect for those who just scan through an article.

Make it short, simple and flowing
Another point I suggest is to have a connection from the end of one paragraph to the beginning of the other. The idea is to write in a flowing manner so that we can take the readers along with us on a smooth ride. When we use a dense style, it is like crossing rocky bumps on the way. Pay special attention to make your sentences short and crisp. Let us let our brains and eyes relax while reading the article.

Conclude with an Action Plan
Rouse the readers to act on the ideas if you can. Throw some questions or send some thought provoking messages in the end. Point certain directions to take and exit.

Best Regards

Dr. Neela R. Soman

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Wow, it sure is great to have so many Doctors and such well educated professionals giving such great advice at EzineArticles.com what a treat indeed. Without all this great advice how could the article authors reach these short attention span readers.

It is great to know how to do this correctly. I guess the well educated folks here are really helping us write to a dummying down readership. We certainly do not want to make them think or use their brains. We must write shorter paragraphs, title each paragraph so they understand what they are reading, use simple material and then at the end re-state the topic and then tell them what we want them to do and you know like, take the thinking out of it for them, so they can operate without any confusion.

Excellent advice, WOW, I am sure learning a lot here, thank you so much. This sure clears up so much for me. And all article authors should listen to these well educated folks to learn how to write and reach these readers so they can sell them stuff.

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Settle down Lance.

We all know that you are the article king here but you don’t have to be so critical of other people’s opinions.

You jumped into me a few comments back and I had the good grace to be nice about it.

Please don’t feel intimidated by somebody’s Doctoral qualifications. You probably know a heck of a lot more things than the narrow scope of a doctor’s field of specialization – judging from your incredible mass of diverse articles.

Everybody has an opinion. We read many of yours.

Having said that – have a nice Christmas.

Gary

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Apology for Misinterpretation

Sorry Gary, I did not mean for that to come off as facetious I was being so very serious. I am learning so much really and truly. Perhaps these Blogs are a difficult way of communication, as often someone can get the wrong impression. In fact the amount of knowledge that some of these Doctorates bring should be quite evident of the amount of geniuses we have here to help us improve.

Compliments and Wisdom

No need to give me any compliments Gary; they are irrelevant. But with that said; we must give credit where credit is due and just savoring these pearls of wisdom from the Doctorates makes one humbled.

Wonderful Gift Deserves Award

What a wonderful gift they bring us all and I believe that their years of schooling and the thousands they have spent is worth every penny, just judging by the great information that they freely give to us paupers. Just brilliant stuff indeed, they are so generous with their knowledge. EzineArticles.com should give them an award of some type? (whoops paragraph too long).

Conclusion and Action Plan

Can you think of an award to recognize them for their Mentorship? Is there a way to encourage more top Doctorates to come forth to assist the up and coming writers of the future? Let us take moment to reflect on this and figure out a way to promote more of this type of dialogue.

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Hi Lance,

I know this is a blog and not a forum. However…

I guess it would depend on what a person has a Doctorate in.

I know many medical doctors and they have shocking written communication (their hand writing is indecipherable too) skills.

However, if a person was a Doctor of Letters or something like that then they have probably studied the subject intensively.

Nobody doubts your prolific written ability. With 10,000+ articles published I really don’t know how you find the time, motivation and effort required. It is amazing. You don’t need to take that as a compliment – even if it is offered that way. It is merely a statement of fact.

Nevertheless, we can all learn from other people’s points of view whether they are a truck washer, a karate dude or even a doctor. It’s all grist for the mill.

By the way Lance, I must say that your last post was exceptionally easy to read. Nice.

Gary

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How to handle article density?

Here is a new, maybe important slant on this issue of writing well so people will read and learn from what you say.

A lot of suggestions to write short articles and short sentences and paragraphs.

Let me suggest something equally important: write ideas that count!

Write good ideas, not just your ideas. Clarify your ideas before you write them for others.

Another kind of dense writing I am sure you have found, as I have, are comments and articles full of rather minor ideas, something like padding.

My concern for myself in writing is not just to come up with ideas to share but to self-analyze and see if my ideas have a chance of being important to myself and others.

-are your two or three main ideas per article well thought out?

-have you put your most important idea first?

-have you put your next most important idea last so as to end with a bang?

-are each of your key ideas connected to each other in some way, yet also each significantly different from each other?

-are you saying ideas already said many times and so most likely familiar to most readers already, or are you giving a new slant on something?

-are you making a clear distinction between a theory or overall perspective idea and practice ideas for specific use?

-have you separated out expressions of emotions from objective ideas and statements themselves?

-how do you connect yourself each time to the ideas you state? Are you a great success? Do you not mention your own experience but try to rely on a title like Dr.? Are you real with the reader?

-what evidence do you state to back up your idea?

-do you make a distinction between ideas backed up with evidence and experience? Or do you back up your ideas with the exaggerated claims that advertising copywriters usually write?

-do you have personal and professional integrity, which means that anything you write you back up by using and experiencing in your own life.

-this is a writer of successful how-to advanced manuals used in classes as well as for the general reader. He has to use the above principles and practices or a whole book bombs!

Guess this is a short article in itself. Thanks to everybody for sharing so many informative ideas here! I will submit these thoughts as an article, but wait first to see if there is feedback or additional ideas from others here. I can acknowledge these with names and quotes as well. ‘So and So says…’ Thanks!

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On Denseness: The editor in me can’t shut up. SOS = Strunk & White. When you want less dense, omit adjectives and adverbs; leave verbs and nouns. Your sentences will be more dynamic. Here’s an example quote from above:

“Elsa’s linked article is actually a fair example of non dense writing, with short, single thought paragraphs. It just so happened her content was provocative as this thread shows, an unfortunate consequense of group education. People who read her articles will see they are not simple but are not dense either … ”
vs.
Elsa’s linked article is non-dense with short, single thought paragraphs and provocative content. Her articles are neither simple nor dense.

I am not critiquing the author. Just using his conversational blog to illustrate less is more in non-fiction; and often in fiction as well.

Merry Christmas to all and to all “Happy Writing.”

suschar

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Strephon,

10/10 for your last post (#84).

Your katana hit all the targets and cut deeply. Your comments are very perceptive and informative. I enjoyed them.

I think your post is the best one here so far. Alas, that includes mine (sigh).

Great tameshikiri(*)

Gary

(*) a Japanese sword term meaning “cutting technique” – in reference to a comment that Strephon made in an earlier blog post (#55).

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Susan,

I’m delighted with what you did to my post, most especially by including the original text. I said it once and I said it again, and yet again. It was my intention to compliment your writing. Reducing it to be hard hitting in this particular case would be counter productive to my intention. And the resulting edit is a great illustration of your intention. I’m liking this little blog community a great deal and I like what you add.

Strephon,

I am excited by the value you provide us in your posts. Thank you ever so much for sharing. I have a strong sense you are equally enthusiastic about contributing to this community. I hope you keep regular. :-)

[Reply]

For My Two Admirers: Love you too guys.

suschar

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