long answer

[aims1202]

if my answer is too long when i click to post it it disappears so i have to write it all over again instead of being able to edit it! that is not good

[swedeheart]

Adding to Chuck's and rowanwitch's examples, here's another good reason for giving a long reply: Couple of weeks ago I was searching AB for some old info and came across a reply where an ABer had posted a link to a poem. I clicked the link and landed on a porn site so graphic I'm still reeling :))) I can take it but kids doing research for their homework shouldn't have to click a link that no longer leads to the same site content as when the link was posted. So in that case and many others it would have been better to just copy and paste the whole poem, thus possibly exceeding the character limit.

[B00]

"I clicked the link and landed on a porn site so graphic I'm still reeling :)))"

After making sure the link was saved to favourites and revisiting it everyday, you're still shocked aint ya swedey? ;-)

[swedeheart]

No it was truly horrible B00. I still see it in my nightmares http://i26.tinypic.com/260bzmw.jpg