You know, I’ve heard that a lot lately and frankly I fail to comprehend how being MORE verbose, explaining things fully, and making similes so people who don’t know the subject have something to relate to qualifies as a bad thing. Concise - lacking elaboration and detail; I was taught that’s a BAD thing. Not only should one list the choice, decision or proper practice, but explain why, give examples, make comparisons to things they might understand.
You were taught wrong. Plain and simple. Concise is an art, it is taught in any technical writing course, and similes open up a gaping hole for misunderstanding. Use of metaphors, similes, and overly verbose prose is typical of what you write: a rant.
But as I recently told another poster here, I think I missed his post completely because it was so concise, I thought it was a ‘me too’ instead of saying what I ended up posting - since it didn’t say WHY.
I understand skimming, I’m sure I miss a lot as well, but claiming you missed it because the user didn’t say WHY or post several paragraphs is deluding yourself.
But I often think communication issues often stem from regional differences. As George Bernard Shaw said, “America and England are two nations divided by a common language”. I’m an old school New England Yankee - we are NOT a polite people. “Ya cahnt geht theyah frum heeeyah” isn’t just a catch phrase, it’s a way of life. Just as Patton said an army cannot run without profanity, I believe the same about any workplace where you actually expect things to be done PROPERLY. “But it has to be eloquent profanity… and as to the types of comments I make, well, by God, sometimes I just get caught up in my own eloquence.”
You are now trying to justify your personal communication skills by demonstrating that other regions might not “get it” when you tell them to go &*%$ themselves.
Candy-coating everything is no way to have anything resembling progress, or to get a job done properly. This namby pamby limp-wristed “if you can’t say anything nice” bull is perhaps the most insulting thing I’ve ever dealt with and I have zero tolerance for it. Something sucks, say it sucks. Somethings wrong, SAY it’s wrong. “you can’t say anything nice” is a cop-out used by people with their heads in the sand in regards to every problem.
This loudmouthed swear about everything and call a spade a spade attitude is possibly the most insulting thing I’ve ever dealt with and I have zero tolerance for it. Something sucks, suggest ways to reduce the suck. Somethings wrong, explain why. “You can’t say anything nice” is a way to remove the non-constructive from the room.
<simile>Much like the sheep, people would prefer if the sheepdog was somewhere else, because it is too hard for them to accept that there are actually wolves out there. If the fire extinguishers at a school were faulty, “Heads would roll” - yet kids are a dozen times less likely to encounter a fire in their school than violence - but the mere notion of such violence is so terrifying that people shudder at the thought of NEEDING an armed guard or arming the teachers.</simile>
People are sheep and they need your violence? Don’t know what to make of this. I get “unnecessary fear” implication, and for the most part agree, but what is your point? Violence is accepted?acceptable?needed? Maintaining fire extinguishers should take second priority to [something]?
In that way, the reality of things being wrong/nonsensical/incorrect is too ‘tough’ for most people to accept, so when someone goes and puts out a laundry list of what’s wrong, they’re automatically being “unnecessarily harsh” - bull. Harsh is probably the surest indicator of someone trying to help you. Slapping the rose coloured glasses on your head and leading you down the garden path is NOT helpful in the least, no matter how good it feels. Kinda like pissing yourself in dark pants, a warm feeling but nobody notices until the stink hits the air.
What the … ? What is this relevant to at all? Criticism is a good thing, in most situations. This is just another self justification of how you being an ^%^& is a good thing.
But having traveled I found the regional differences are a healthy part of it - for example I can’t spend more than five minutes in a room with your typical twenty-something from the west coast without feeling the overwhelming urge to punch their face in… They’re sunshiny cheer combined with a complete lack of anything resembling testicular fortitude not only being annoying, it’s almost as outright insulting as when adults talk down to children in that idiot voice that 99% of people seem to automatically shift into when the kid is under the age of 12.
Yet more self justification that your opinion and way of life is fine. Have you traveled outside that cosy, warm, place you so obviously hate? Have you ever left the continent? You will find your regional differences completely pale when you take them globally.
I remember my first trip to Georgia I stopped to gas up and after waiting five minutes in line to pay the bimbo at the register starts chewing my ear off. I finally said “Hey, why are you even talking to me? What do you want out of me?” – honest to god someone up here pulls that they are probably trying to hit you up for a loan or a really nasty favor. Naturally I kneejerked into “Shut the *** up, gimme my damned change so I can get the hell out of here and you can wait on the fifteen people in line behind me.” - naturally she responded with “Well I never!”, leading me into the classic “there’s half your problem lady” 
wow! 
Turned out to not be a pleasant trip when I discovered that is apparently the norm down there. Regional differences about how workplace behaviors are handled are quite surprising; and with the Internet letting disparate regions attempt to work together, conflicts abound. What I grew up understanding to be workplace behavioral norms do not mesh well with the era of political correctness and don’t you DARE say anything negative about ANYTHING.
So instead of communicating, or attempting to understand something outside your normal environment, you chose to react like a ^%%^. Well done.
Of course with schools practicing asshattery like “social promotion” and going “you can’t do anything to upset the children” it’s no wonder we’ve bred out two generations of thin skinned morons. Maybe if we took some time to upset them a little we’d be pumping out better results on standardized tests, not having half the public having this ‘sense of entitlement’ where they expect something for nothing, a proper work ethic, and fiscal responsibility at every level slightly more mature than Wimpy’s “I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” – and we wonder why jobs are going overseas.
“WE”. You do realise there is an international audience reading this? And that SP isn’t even a US company? I point this out mainly to allude to the fact that you seem to be on a personal mission, with little respect to anyone else.
