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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1833 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 18, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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But what is the point of adding all these extra spaces? Isn't an em dash long enough without them?

It's like how the French language adds a random space before a colon, a question mark, or an exclamation mark, but not before a period. I just don't see any reason for it.

(Coincidentally, @ZorbaTHut is currently insisting that adding random vertical spaces to the rules page is a good thing.)

To me, no spaces makes it look like the words on either side of the em-dash have been hyphenated. To return to your previous example, when I first read your comment there was a split-second when I was thinking "what on earth is an 'author-well'?" and wondered if it might be an inkwell than an author dips his quill into.

In my browser, a hyphen-minus is 5 pixels, an en dash is 9 pixels, and an em dash is 16 pixels. (These measurements were gathered, not manually, but by using the browser's "inspect element" feature on a span element that includes only the character in question.) Being unable to tell the difference between a hyphen-minus and an em dash sounds like a severe skill issue.


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Well, point taken.

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