TL;DR

You've probably seen it around often enough, but maybe not; the Internet term TL;DR. TL;DR is one of the most clever and useful acronyms of the Internet. Standing for "Too Long; Didn't Read", it's a popular introductory device to a brief summation of a longer block of text, or sometimes even of a whole article. I think TL;DR is so perfect because it's a kind of microcosm of the Internet itself, which sometimes feels like a TL;DR of, well, everything. It's everything in existence reduced down to a more poppy, palatable, easy to digest form for all of us who can't be troubled to study, engage, or take the time to understand properly.  It's so easy that it encourages us to learn about things we don't care about, but to not learn them well enough so that we truly understand them or remember them. Nevertheless, my small digs aside, TL;DR is a useful Internet communication tool to clarify, simplify, and give people options in their level of engagement with a point.

Too long for you? Here, I will give you a TL;DR of it.

TL;DR is a useful acronym meaning "Too Long; Didn't Read". It introduces a brief summary of the content usually above it on a webpage.

How's that?

Still too long?

Okay, I'll give a TL;DR of my TL;DR.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read) helpfully introduces summarized content.

No?

A TL;DR of my TL;DR of my TL;DR then:

TL;DR is good.

Still less? Okay, but last one for sure!  A TL;DR of my TL;DR of my TL;DR of my TL;DR:

Mmf.

Finally! Excellent! Tweet it out.



But the truth is, as much as I appreciate the TL;DR it does not satisfy my personal orientation. What I would like to actually see, over and over in my perusal of the Internet, is a TS;WM, meaning "Too Short; Want More". As in:  "Okay, you've got my attention, now let's get down to... what? It's over? Already?"

It occurs to me that my daily missives here run pretty short themselves. Maybe one or two among you sometimes wishes for a TS;WM of my blog posts. So perhaps I should explain how it all works here.

Clerkmanifesto is produced modularly. Each individual post is a TL;DR of the entire breadth of the collective project. So, for instance this blog post, though any other I've written will work as well, functions as a TL;DR of every blog post I have written as a collective unit. And then, contrawise, the entire collection of all my blog posts, roughly 1,600, is a TS;WM of any individual blog post. And so, if you need elaboration here, and need a TS;WM, simply go to my first post and read through all 1,600 of them that I have written, one by one, without stopping.

Still not enough? Need more than the 1,600? TS;WM? 

Well, I'll be here tomorrow...