Jeff Liebermann wrote
William Sommerwerck wrote
Jeff Liebermann wrote

Nothing profound has ever been said on one line.

Including that statement?

Of course. Everything I write has a hidden meaning,
hidden agenda, hidden target, or hidden oxymoron.

The problem here is that while I respect the rights of every person to
have an opinion in accordance with freedom of speech, I don't really
care what that opinion might be. I'm interested in the reasoning
behind that opinion, the logic used to arrive at the opinion, and
possibly some examples of why that opinion is correct and others
wrong. I'll then weight all the sides of the discussion, relative to
my needs, and make my own decision. Circumventing this logic
process by merely offering an opinion is a waste of time and bytes.

Also, the proliferation of one-line comments on the web and Usenet
make me suspect that the literacy of those involved is deficient.

That line can't explain why some like Churchill specialised in
stinging one liners. Hard to claim his literacy was deficient.

I can speculate endlessly as to the reasons for this deterioration in
literacy. One of the more interesting causes is coupled with another
problem. Posters with questions often supply as little information
as possible and require interrogation in order to extract the facts.

That has always been a problem. Plenty just don't understand that
'it doesn't work anymore' isnt every useful for working out why it doesn't.

One-liners and lack of info are symptoms
of the same problem, fear of screwing up.

I don't buy that with one liners with people like Churchill.

The more one writes, the easier it is for someone
else to find an error, omission, or logic fault.

Yes.

Rather than be caught making a mistake,
it is much easier to not present a targets.

I don't believe that is the reason for one
liners or the lack of detail with a fault either.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than
to speak out and remove all doubt"? (Abraham Lincoln).

Another one liner.

It's also possible that the perpetrators of one-liners are stuck in
a write only mode, where they care little about those that might
read the comments. That would class them only slightly better
than a spammer that doesn't read the newsgroup before or after
posting their junk. If this is the problem, I suggest that people
posting anything first consider a simple litmus test. If you don't
like reading what you're about to post, then don't post it.

Some of us prefer Ab's one liner to your para just above.