I don’t get people who introduce their messages with TLDR.
Dude if it’s too long, then make it shorter! Or simply don’t start with TLDR if your content needs to be lengthy

Courtesy is how that is called. Because the TL;DR is so that the reader gets a summary and then can decide whether / when to drill down into the details.

I for one love those.

Brings out the essence of the text to the first line and includes all the relevant info [motivation, prerequisires, restrictions, etc.] along with it should I have any followup questions

@Fast-Nop can I be honest with you? Your moralizing tone annoys me ("courtesy is what that is called").
I know the purpose of TLDR. I don’t need your explanation.

What bothers me with its usage is that the one line summary usually is too vague to have any real informative value. So I usually end up reading the entire message anyway. And in the end, the content itself usually is not that long to the point where I can’t get the gist of what the author is trying to convey.
So I end up perceiving these messages like this: "smart alert 🚨 . What you’re about to read is probably too much for you to absorb. So here’s a very incomplete summary which won’t be of any help (and since I put the time and effort into writing that long message, I DO expect people to read it anyway, otherwise what’s the point of posting it here?)"

I do this all the time at work. TLDR: Brief summary of what happened and that the problem is solved.

Followed by a very long description with more context for anyone curious as to what exactly happened, why it happened, and what was actually done to fix it. That way the information is out there for people who might be curious or want to refer back to it at a later point (i.e. if the same or similar problem recurs).

@black-kite I usually do tldr announcements in channels with mixed fauna: devs, ops, sales, mgmt, etc.

So the tldr does fit the bill rather nicely

@AmyShackles @netikras
Good for you guys. I’m simply suggesting it’s possibly counterproductive to use the actual acronym, for the reasons explained in my response to fast-nip.

Also, considering that it initially had a negative meaning: Too long, DIDN’T read (i.e. why didn’t you just cut to the chase)

@black-kite Same as with @netikras - the PM won't care much about the details (and probably won't understand them anyway), but needs to know the abstract of what's going on.

Other co-workers do understand, but it may not directly impact their work right now, only later, so they need a heads-up, but have other stuff to do right now.

In all cases, it is "courtesy" because the objective is not wasting other people's time when, at least for the moment, a rough summary will do for them.

Part of that is ofc that the summary has to be actually useful. Bad summaries suck.

Though the TLDR wording may be a bit too colloquial in a formal email, depending on the environment. "Summary" or "abstract" may be suited better.

@black-kite I totally agree, it fucks me off because it’s often not used properly infact. almost never on here.

@black-kite if the TL;DR is too vague for you, then it's the fault of the writer using it incorrectly. TL;DR is a good thing itself if used properly.

tldr

it's the end of the world!