@EliahKagan here's that longest-answers-by-markdown query - I modified it to remove the userID input field so you can see everyone's posts. Your answer to my question seems to be the longest ever XD

@Zanna Thanks for the query!

I just finished writing one so I wasn't sure what you meant for a second :) That query is useful to me because it shows how to search markdown

I'm kind of worried about how my answer is only 6 characters under the limit, since that may make it harder to edit. I actually edited it down significantly so it would fit. I also discovered that the visual editor and the backend can disagree about how many characters there are in an answer.

Unfortunately I seem to have lost the screenshot I took showing the problem.

that's frustrating... I wonder how the discrepancy arises... I use a userscript for comments that adds [title](link) when I paste link and sometimes that causes my comments to get truncated due to undetected char limit as the script lengthens the comment after I click to post it, but can't imagine what's going on with the editor...

Well fortunately there was no truncation. It displayed a message when I tried to submit the post. But when you exceed the limit and you click in or out of the textarea, it makes the textarea's border red and tells you in a tooltip that you're above it and by how many characters. That calculation is apparently different from how the system actually counts them, though. I suspect the visual editor just has a bug. It's strange.

I think I had to cut the post by like a thousand characters. I hope I find the screenshot. I'm thinking maybe I just didn't save it, though.

ugh that's harsh. When I'm writing an essay with a word limit I always write far too much and have to go through and use all the shortest possible verb forms etc

In this case it wasn't too bad because I was already editing it down and had thought about what to remove if I had to. The answer only covers about three fourths of the material I had originally planned, but even without a system-imposed limit I think I would have figured out it was best to stop where I did.

When I found the backend insisted I cut it down even more, I removed some things I was already prepared to remove. This is the version I thought I could submit based on what the visual editor said. I'm happy I didn't have to remove the last section, which I really like in the post as it shows how separate stdout and stderr are really useful, what it looks like to put more stuff in the loop, and how to actually generate null-character-separated records.

you seem to write long answers frequently. not sure if this site is the best for that tbh

Yeah, I know what you mean. In this case I think the answer works well, but in many cases an answer that can easily be read and fully tested in a short time can be more helpful.

i should mention that i don't mind longform answers

i am just concerned you are not targeting the right audience

suppose i am visiting SO or AU to learn a particular thing, i don't really want to spend 30 minutes reading an answer.

It depends what I'm doing and what I'm looking for. For some topics, I want more depth. And if a long answer has a good layout, it's still easy to find the part you need

you are also not the "average" user :P

But until recently I've tried to keep my AU posts as short as possible

but, I don't think it matters that not every answer is what the "average" user wants

i would say an "average" user is someone who googles for a particular problem, finds this site, and hopes to fix their problem asap

depends on your goals i suppose

there are lots of visitors, a diverse audience, and some of them sometimes want more detail... there are plenty of comments in questions saying things like "I want to learn about this" or "I want to understand this"

There's room for different types of answer to the same question imho...

oh for sure there is definitely room

@edwinksl Yes, I often search Stack Overflow--and sometimes Ask Ubuntu--to find a quick solution or a quick explanation on a specific point. I also would not have expected to write an answer that actually gets near the 30,000 character limit.

> I'm not familiar with situations where the markdown of a post really needed to be quite that long here on Ask Ubuntu.

That is a good answer. Though it would probably be better if it were a bit longer, to say what needed to be changed in /etc/environment. That particular OP doesn't seem to have needed such an explanation, but other users who come upon the question might well have benefited from it.

@edwinksl yeah true... and it's the same for me a lot of the time, I don't disagree!

Well, most people who read answers for a question asking what's wrong with a script and how to write it correctly probably aren't looking for instant answers.

right, but they aren't looking for an exposition either

my point is there is a good chance your long answer will be overlooked just because of its sheer length but as long as you are fine with that and wish to only target people who desire to learn more and can spend that time reading your answer, then your answer is aligned with your goal

In that question, for other readers who find it by searching for something they want to know, I'm not so sure. They may be trying to get a deeper understanding. But I did write the answer so that it can be used without reading the whole thing, by dividing it into sections, placing the part of the solution that is likely to be most reusable at the beginning, and so forth. I do totally agree with you that very long answers here are likely to be overlooked because of their length.

When I write especially long answers, I am usually thinking about that... even if I decide to make them long anyway. So I think I do mostly agree with what you're saying.

i learn a ton from your answers when i do decide to sit down and read them :p

:)

maybe you should write a blog or publish an online book or something

I think when someone gains a reputation for writing good answers (reputation as in that number next to your name helps too) people feel they can commit time to read it as it's going to be worth it. If I notice that muru or Eliah Kagan wrote the answer I will bother to read the whole thing even if I'm feeling lazy

Oh crap, that means I have to try hard to only write things that are worth reading! :)

haha you are doing well so far