user3624: As of lately, the abbreviation "tl; dr" (Too long; didn't read) has been used more and more on the site, which I dislike for four reasons.

It cannot be seen as a standard, well-known abbreviation, and is basically internet slang. 
For a site that aims to be a "a question and answer site for biology researchers, academics, and students" it sets a bad precedent by saying that you don't really need to go into details to understand an issue. 
It is superfluous. People can skip/skim text if they want to, and in well-structured answers it should be easy to pick out the most important parts.
Using it in your own answer is vague, and it is most suitable to label wall-of-text, i.e. used as a label with negative connotations.

I've almost edited out 'tl;dr' from answers before, but didn't because I'm unsure about how the BioSE community feels. Ideas and suggestions? Am I just being boring and old?
To me, removing/editing-out 'tl;dr' it would be similar to removing "Thanks in advanzze!!!" in questions and smilys in answers - basically to discourage chatty questions/answers and informal language.
Finally, it you feel the need to flag the most important parts of your answer, what is wrong with "Short answer:"?

user12909: Sure we can discourage it but will that actually do anything? Moderators aren't here to edit verbage (unless it is disrespectful, hate speech, profanity, etc), and when they do a fire storm can brew, see this meta post on an outside mod correcting a questions wording on a math post. @madscientists has already seen the craziness since he was in the comment mix.
Therefore, even if we discourage it, we can't stop people from using it. If mods edit their post because they feel it shouldn't be there, that can cause an uproar (see linked post). If a community member edits a post because they don't think it should be there, that could cause animosity, resent, etc between the users and potentially arguments which will require moderator intervention. 
What should we do about this? Probably just ignore it since it causes no harm. 

3624: <p>As of lately, the abbreviation "<strong>tl; dr</strong>" (Too long; didn't read) has been used more and more on the site, which I dislike for four reasons.</p>

<ol>
<li>It cannot be seen as a standard, well-known abbreviation, and is basically internet slang. </li>
<li>For a site that aims to be a "<em>a question and answer site for biology researchers, academics, and students</em>" it sets a bad precedent by saying that you don't really need to go into details to understand an issue. </li>
<li>It is superfluous. People can skip/skim text if they want to, and in well-structured answers it should be easy to pick out the most important parts.</li>
<li>Using it in your own answer is vague, and it is most suitable to label wall-of-text, i.e. used as a label with negative connotations.</li>
</ol>

<p>I've almost edited out 'tl;dr' from answers before, but didn't because I'm unsure about how the BioSE community feels. Ideas and suggestions? Am I just being boring and old?</p>

<p>To me, removing/editing-out 'tl;dr' it would be similar to removing "<em>Thanks in advanzze!!!</em>" in questions and smilys in answers - basically to discourage chatty questions/answers and informal language.</p>

<p>Finally, it you feel the need to flag the most important parts of your answer, what is wrong with "<em>Short answer:</em>"?</p>
 12909: <p>Sure we can discourage it but will that actually do anything? Moderators aren't here to edit verbage (unless it is disrespectful, hate speech, profanity, etc), and when they do a fire storm can brew, see <a href="https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/19512/on-the-bachelor-ette-correction">this</a> meta post on an outside mod correcting a questions wording on a math post. @madscientists has already seen the craziness since he was in the comment mix.</p>

<p>Therefore, even if we discourage it, we can't stop people from using it. If mods edit their post because they feel it shouldn't be there, that can cause an uproar (see linked post). If a community member edits a post because they don't think it should be there, that could cause animosity, resent, etc between the users and potentially arguments which will require moderator intervention. </p>

<p>What should we do about this? Probably just ignore it since it causes no harm. </p>
