Warn user when not using paragraphs

[Salamanca]

Hi there,

There are many people who just don't know how to type properly. Their post would a single paragraph with endless text which is hard to read.
I searched and couldn't find any addon that could for example, warn the user, or not allow him/her to post huge paragraphs of text.

I think this is a good idea.

Thanks
Alex

 

[Mendalla]

I used to mod stories on a website and you would swear some people had never been taught about paragraphs. Huge blocks of text, not even quotation marks around dialogue. So, yeah, I hear you. Not sure how you would make that work, though.

 

[Ozzy47]

It would be almost impossible to implement something like that and expect it to be done correctly.

 

[Mr Lucky]

So, yeah, I hear you. Not sure how you would make that work, though.

I’m sure it may be possible if Yoast can do it on Wordpress.

 

[Ozzy47]

I’m sure it may be possible if Yoast can do it on Wordpress.

How can they tell when and where there should and shouldn't be anew paragraph?

 

[Mendalla]

I’m sure it may be possible if Yoast can do it on Wordpress.

I guess looking at what it does would be a starting point, then. Ratio of words or maybe sentences to paragraph breaks. Though I have seen posts that were one huge run-on sentence which would break that.

 

[Lukas W.]

Pretty sure Yoast just uses a general guideline on where a new paragraph should happen, which is, as a rule of thumb, 100ish words/5ish sentences, depending on who you listen to.

 

[Mr Lucky]

How can they tell when and where there should and shouldn't be anew paragraph?

It doesn’t say when and where exactly, it just warns when paragraphs are longer then ideal.

 

[Ozzy47]

Better than nothing, but not ideal or accurate.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Better than nothing, but not ideal or accurate.

No, but this is all that the OP seems to be asking for.

 

[Ozzy47]

A simple notice could achieve that then.

 

[Mr Lucky]

A simple notice could achieve that then.

Yes, but how do you make the notice display when a paragraph is too long? (ie longer than however you want to define as too long)

 

[Ozzy47]

You don’t. You just have it displayed as a friendly reminder. You could put the notice for certain usergroup/users only.

 

[Mr Lucky]

You don’t. You just have it displayed as a friendly reminder. You could put the notice for certain usergroup/users only.

OK, but I thought the point of this was to warn people if/when their paragraphs seem to be getting too long. I really wouldn't want to clutter up my forum with notices warning people about long paragraphs, when the vast majority don't do that.

 

[Ozzy47]

That’s why you would target problem users with the notice, not everyone. Or wait till someone makes an addon.

 

[JoyFreak]

I'd be happy that they're posting at all. I would edit the text myself and add linebreaks manually. I would then drop them a message to explain what needs to be done to ensure better readability and how it would benefit everyone.

 

[HJW]

Would be simple to detect someone that's say written 150+ characters with no line breaks for instance. But they'd probably ignore it anyway

We've given up trying to get people to write in line breaks. If they become regulars they usually get it eventually.

 

[Lawrence]

The number of words in a paragraph is subjective, because it needs to be based on the type of content written. For example, a thesis is going to have many more words per paragraph than a story about swords and sorcery would.

On my role play site (back in the day), experience was awarded based on paragraphs of a minimum of 50 words. This number I came up with by viewing all the roleplaying posts and taking the average words members were writing per paragraph. As my site was play-by-post, paragraphs were generally shorter (there were always exceptions though - like an introduction to a new adventure just started), so 50 was a value that seemed fair to me.

How many words in a paragraph to use as a check would need to be an option set by an admin based on the niche of their forum (most likely somewhere between 50 and 200 WPP).

 

[beerForo]

If it is REALLY important to you, since you mention warning, you could use the public warning function (the message in the post seen by all). Make it a friendly message/example of a properly formatted post instead of the typical warning. Then, other users see this below that post which serves as a guide for others. You may see a lower rate of such posts. Just an idea. It's kind of like a notice, but one used inline and when needed. The trick is wording it up to be something they appreciate.

Personally, I would look past my own irks and let it be.

 

[deslocotoco]

Man, please. Forget about this idea. You gonna make your users run away from your Forum.

If is really necessary to you (or you are not running a english grammatical forum of some kind), use a friendly approach, like @beerForo said.