“tl;dr is rude and means I won't read your post.”
Internet Entry 357 / 1011 60-second read
TL;DR
Too Long; Didn't Read — a brief summary placed at the end of a long post.
The comparisoni
“TL;DR: The project succeeded. (short summary of a long explanation)”
More examplesii
01
TL;DR at the top of your email to the CEO
Summary: at the top. TL;DR is fine in internal Slack threads.
02
Writing 800 words with no summary
Writing 800 words then adding TL;DR: [3-sentence summary]
03
Sending a wall of text
...anyway long story. TL;DR she got the job 🎉
The ruleiii
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TL;DR is a courtesy, not an insult — it's a summary for people who want the key point fast.
It can come across as dismissive, but on forums and Reddit it's widely understood as a helpful shortcut.
Memory aidiv
Remember it like this
Think of it as the last sentence on an executive summary — the bottom line.