Minor rant on lj-cut tags

[pne]

Please, people, when you use lj-cut tags, could you at least arrange for the post to make sense even if you don't use them?

Usually, when I read my friends page, I scan through the entries, and ones I want to read more closely and/or where I want to read the comments, I click on the comments link, opening the page in a background tab. Then when I'm caught up (or have read as much as I have time for), I read the opened comment pages one by one.

By that time, I've usually forgotten who, if anyone, used lj-cut tags or what they were, so seeing half-sentences is a bit disconcerting. Similarly, if someone gets to the entry through, say, a memory or a link, they won't see the cut tag.

So if the cut tag starts a sentence, I'd prefer it if you repeat that half-sentence underneath the cut; if you use, say, three cuts to mark off sections, perhaps you can include the cut text as a kind of sub-header underneath as well so you know what belongs together.

Consider a sentence such as, "Please don't." WTF? Don't what? In context behind a cut tag that says, for example, "My advice on dancing in my backyard naked:", it makes sense... but please try to write things that make sense without the context of cut tags. (Heck, even if I click through the first cut tag in a post, I might not have remembered the other four cut tags.)

...This rant is not really addressed to any of the people on my flist; it's something I've mostly seen in a couple of communities I watch, and was prompted most recently by reading some of the memories of a specific user. But I still wanted to get it out.

Comments

[uon.livejournal.com]

Livejournal posts are supposed to make sense?

Oh.

[eridanusus.livejournal.com]

SO FUCKING TRUE.

...I'm sposed to be, like, letting Chris write. Heh.

[it0376.livejournal.com]

We should make a petition to enforce the proper use of the lj-cut. Like that online one about banning Internet :P

But I do agree, as usefull as they are, using them wrongly is extremely annoying.

[entirelysonja.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you. Believe it or not, I sometimes go back and edit posts just to make the spacing make sense both with and without lj-cut tags, because I don't always get it right on the first try.

[ladyortyger.livejournal.com]

I use the same opening in background tabs and looking at them later method. But I always repeat the text of the lj-cut under the cut...

[allegrox.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I always preview mine to make sure they make sense. It also bothers me sometimes when people start in sentence in the subject and finish it in the body. I sometimes forget to read those, and it can be slightly confusing.

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

Eek. I must apologise. I do repeat the lj-text in the cut (cause that bugs me too), but when I cut due to length, I cut the whole article. Not normally a getting-the-driftable if you don't open the cut.

Will look at that.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about that -- at least, not on account of me.

Though if the cut text is only "Read more" and nothing else is visible of the entry on my friends page, I may or may not open it.

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

Nah, that bugs me. I normally have some kind of weak attempt at a humorous or witty description. :)