to me this is huge. HN, Reddit, twitter all encourage (or enforce) strict limits on post size. This seems to encourage a conversational aproach to discussion, and discourage longer discourse. HN certainly does have long posts, and I appreciate that, especially when it comes from someone with real world experience in a field under discussion. But something about forums seems to give people permission to give more detailed responses. I've read magazine article length posts on topics such as palladium printing or ARP 2500 schematics that have been amazingly informative, and weren't even topic starter posts but rather detailed answers to simple questions asked by a less knowledgable forum member.

In the real world, I'd rather read a book than have a conversation, so this appeals to me.