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I think not everybody is interested (or have just-in-case time) to read the whole answer (which contain Ayas, Hadiths, mental trail, etc...), there are many people who may need to get a quick answer for their questions (maybe because they're in a hurry at the same moment).

Well, since the community will choose the best answer at last, I see no problem in having a short version of the answer at it's beginning. In truth I find it very useful and will help too many people.

For example, see this answer, If there were a short answer in the beginning that outlines the answer and then the answer which you see now, then it would be very nice in my opinion.

What I mean having answers in this form:

Short Answer

The short answer which is the outline, it's for common people and people in a hurry.

Complete Answer

The real well-cited and complete answer which the short answer depends on and outlines.

This situation is common on StackOverflow when the answer contains very long explanation.

What do you think? do you agree or disagree?

P.S: Note that even if you agree, this shouldn't be obligatory, it's only a recommendation.

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  • I don't like the idea of enforcing this... encouraging would be nice, or a friendly reminder.
    – Dynamic
    Jul 5, 2012 at 15:07

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Well i agree to you. I had thought of that but i didn't think of asking.
I have done that thing quite a lot of times :P
Well we could give a summary of the answer in the end too.
But I don't think it can be done for hadiths and Quranic verses. They have to be put in their pure form

Well there is no harm in trying. If it works then well-and-good.

Edit:

Another thing we can do is to bold out key words in sentences.
For eg.
On Lailatul Qadr the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad

So the person will just glance at those "key-words" and if he thinks that line or para is interesting he can start reading the whole thing.

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  • Bolding doesn't usually help, IMO it gets a bit harder to read when stuff is bolded :\
    – Manishearth
    Jul 6, 2012 at 3:53
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I don't think this ought to be enforced, but it's a common concept.

Whenever people write long posts on the Internet, it is common practice to include a "TL;DR" section (TL;DR means "Too Long; Didn't Read", and basically gives an overview of the answer without getting too long). It's not just for lazy people--it gives you an idea of what to expect from the answer.

Another thing I do often is, along with a TLDR, I add a "conclusion" at the bottom. This reiterates what has been covered in the post succinctly. This is different from the TLDR section--while the TLDR is for people who won't be able to read the whole thing, this is to emphasize key points (and let them linger in your mind) when someone has finished reading a post. This prevents cases of people forgetting what was explained in the first few sections by the time they reach the end :P

For example, see https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/21856/7433 and https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/23895/7433, two answers of mine where I have done this.\

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