Types of Writing at Permies

I like writing for Permies...and since there are several kinds of writing here, I had some questions.

What do people like to read here on Permies the most? Is it the Q&A on gardening techniques? Random banter over in Meaningless Drivel? Are long explanatory posts, such as those that some bloggers cross-post from their blogs here, getting lots of views? Is it posts with links or images that people find the most useful? (How many people read the bits of poetry or fiction that are posted around here?)

I'm good with words, but I realize this is no place for academic essays for example, which I have been good at in the past. What are the things folks really read this site for?

I like to read people's project posts. Usually with a few pictures.

It's interesting to see how people are actually getting things done.

As for threads, I like the threads that have "Titles" that catch my attention.  These might be in any forum because I like subjects in all forums.

Rchael said, "What are the things folks really read this site for?

There are a lot of different types of writing and styles of writing.

I like plant IDs.

I like threads about mushrooms as I feel mushrooms have such great value.

I like threads about building soil as everyone needs to work on building soil.

I love the Kitchen forums.  Cooking and Medical Herbs, best.

I am not fond of long posts as they lose my attention about halfway through the post.

Pictures or images also get my attention, the more the merrier.

I'm up for academic essays.

But mostly I think the Q and A, and how-to are useful.

Permies is a very powerful hivemind.

I like to see real life examples - like "I did X and Y happened". Often we get the question and not the answer or follow up.

Mind you I also like a good puzzle to solve too, I love thinking I'm helping people; that's one reason I love it here!

L. Johnson wrote:I like to read people's project posts. Usually with a few pictures.
It's interesting to see how people are actually getting things done.

Me, too.  Theory is interesting but often over my head.  I like to see and read about how people are doing things.

I try to break up my long-winded posts. Now and then, I succeed.

All of us are overwhelmed with content. I try to convince readers that the quality of my content is worth the investment of little bits of their lives.

I worked in video -- communications media -- way back. Today, written stuff is the equivalent of the spoken word. Live speech. Write accordingly. Grammar still counts.

The point: A word is a sentence. A sentence is a paragraph. A paragraph is an essay. An essay is an encyclopedia. Long blocks of text will simply be ignored. Distill it down. Convince me/us it's worth our time, or we'll sail right past.

Egads, I think maybe I just broke my own rules. Haha!

And I didn't answer the OP's question! Tsk.

I mostly look for posts where people are doing homesteady things, or trying to figure out how to do homesteady things. Posts where I can learn or contribute.

I do like meaningless drivel posts as well. After a long day on the end of a shovel, a cold beverage and a little witty, silly banter is good for the soul.

What I like to read is like a typical response to other permie questions - it depends. It depends on the moment, the need, the want, what catches my eye...

If I'm having a struggle, I'll come here to track it down, see if someone else has asked for &/or given great advice about it, and depending on what I find - or don't find, I may contribute to a thread, or start one. If I'm looking for inspiration, or thinking of starting a project, or feeling inquisitive, or looking for easy social interaction, or just wanting to destress in some silliness...

Walls of text are often a no go, for me - but not always. Grammar, spelling, word usage will all affect my willingness. When using colloquialisms, if their wording is historically correct, it works, but if not, it's a huge distraction, and turns me off. For example, the historical phrase 'cut the muster' is much more often (these days) changed to 'cut the mustard'. The meaning is entirely lost. Things like 'all the sudden' or 'all of a sudden' are grammatically nonsensical, and more correctly, more simply worded as 'suddenly'. It's picky. It's persnickety. It's petty. I know this. But, it's so distracting, I've actually quit reading many, many books and articles, and abandoned quite a few otherwise excellent blogs, because the author's word usage drove me to distraction.

I look for upbeat, informative, accurate, pleasant and/or humorous reads. In fact, lol - I wish everything I wrote could meet the criteria in that sentence!🤣

I like seeing what people are doing on their land and in their gardens, with pictures, especially if they update over time.

I like reading about people solving problems.

And I like reading people encouraging each other and being helpful.

I like reading posts that have paragraph breaks. Indentation is good too.

To me, the virtue of the crowd brain is that not all of the individuals in it think—or write—alike. That diversity of thought, expression, and even post layout makes reading both more interesting and informative.

I do find that long posts benefit from lots of chunking up with things like bullet lists or headers. Walls of text are tough—give people a scaffold for them, for Pete’s sake. Pictures and video are fantastic. Or tell me a story that has a beginning, middle, and end, because humans connect to stories. Bonus points if you make me laugh.

I like it when a person's post teaches me how do to something.  I like lots of pictures. I don't learn as easily from written descriptions as I do from pictures. I like step-by-step how to do things.  Usually, the posts I find most interesting are someone showing how to do something that I haven't done before.  With that in mind, if I haven't done it, there is a good chance I don't know the terminology or the simple steps that people take for granted if they have been doing something for awhile.  All types of knowledge come with their own terminology to some degree.  If I want to learn about herbal medicine, I need to know what an infusion is, what steeping is, what decoction means.  Sure, I can google it and find out, or go read a book about it, but the post is less helpful to me than if I didn't need to do that.  Building construction is another one that has a ton of terms specific to building.  Jack stud, cripple stud, rim joist, stringer, LVL, and on and on.  I have since learned all those terms, but it was very confusing at first.  A simple picture, and now I know that a rim joist is the long board that the floor joists connect to.  Just examples, but every area of knowledge has these same things.

I was just re-reading this thread and thought some more.

I realized I've become more drawn to meaningless drivel posts the longer I'm here. Probably because I'm becoming more immersed in the community, and meaningless drivel is a great place to build that up!

I also appreciate the hive mind. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, so you can't search for it. Chances are when you post about it here, someone knows the right keyword, or product, or technical term that will help you find what you're looking for. I love search engines, but humans have a social memory, we really do support each other in knowing things. I feel that a lot here.