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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/26899
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A comment on a [recent question of mine](https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/26898/13494) claims

> Right, so that's [large unformatted text blocks scaring off some readers in certain contexts is] a myth. This is how I know: Harry Potter. Big long books. Lots of text. Lots of readers. People come to SE for text. They are not scared of it. But they are information foragers. If your text does not have the scent of the information they are looking for they will quickly move on. Make sure your text is leading the reader the direction they want to go and is making steady progress. (But do keep your paragraphs short. Easier to read on screen.)

This was surprising to read. Multiple people throughout my life who've been quite interested in the content of short, nonfiction pieces I've written have requested that I avoid 'text walls' in the future. While the density on the page was not problematic for them once they actually read the piece, they had significantly delayed reading it because of the lack of paragraphing and other formatting.

Is the so-called 'text wall' really a thing? Is it true that in some contexts, large blocks of unformatted text can scare off readers before they start reading? Or is there actually no such phenomenon?

Original score: 20