Time is precious

Religious apologists do seem prone to verbosity and gibberish (http://christianthinktank.com must be the ultimate example).

Perhaps one day it will be interesting to explore the reasons why that is. It might be because of a reliance on these two fallacious arguments... 

http://jimcgoldtoken.blogspot.com/2014/02/argument-by-gibberish.html

http://jimcgoldtoken.blogspot.com/2014/02/proof-by-verbosity.html

Whatever the motivation for religious apologists to resort to gibbereish and verbosity, time is precious (at least to me) so here are some tips I use to ensure I minimise my time on discussion boards.

1. Avoid Fisking. It uses significant time for copying and pasting and reformatting which is unnecessary when the post being replied to is visible directly above.
2. Ensure the “threaded and nested” option is selected in the GT preferences (to enable point 1)
3. Another reason to avoid Fisking is because it results in a single post being expanded into multiple paragraphs which could then require multiple responses, and if each of those is Fisked the subsequent time required to respond grows exponentially and the topic is usually lost.
4. Be as pithy as possible. It is a discussion board, so when I write a response, I imagine I'm having a face to face discussion. Writing in a natural speaking style might not win a literary prize, but helps minimise verbosity and therefore saves time for writers and readers. It also saves time wasted by questions from readers seeking clarity, rather than questions related to the topic.
5. Discuss what posters have to say, rather the posters. Time spent talking about discussion board contributors is usually wasted as it doesn't progress the discussion, and it's likely to be ad hominem anyway.
6. If a point I've raised has been ignored, it might be tempting to write an indignant essay on why it's been ignored.  But I prefer to save time by simply repeating the point. 
7. I always bear in mind the maxim that: "if you can't explain it simply you don't understand it well enough" - Long, verbose answers are often masking ignorance.
8. Before hitting the "send" button, I read what I've written, and try to cut the number of words in half without losing meaning. Then I try to cut it in half again.
9. It's common for the same question to come up over and over again especially on a religion db. Writing the same question and the same answer on a regular basis is a waste of time. So I keep a copy of the answers I've given in a source external to the discussion board, and simply provide a link. Hours saved!
10. Avoid starting a new topic while existing topics are in full flow. Also avoid starting more than one new topic at a time.
11. Try to avoid responding to posts from an individual rather than the latest post in the thread especially if the debate has moved on significantly. Time can be wasted responding to posts that have already been responded to and potentially duplicating posts from other people.