Sob stories

A sob story is any information in a post other that a description of what is wanted. Beyond that the definition is very subjective. A sob story could be a way of getting the sympathy of the reader and making them more inclined to provide the poster with the item they are requesting. Members may find excessive detail time consuming and possibly choose to unsubscribe as a result. On the other hand this sort of narrative can make reading a wanted post more interesting. There is no way of verifying sob stories. Some groups do not allow sob stories, others approve posts leaving such judgments to the discretion their members.

Another consideration is that there is also a possible safety risk in giving to much detail personal detail in a post. It may be appropriate to edit a post that includes too much personal info, or is a 'sob story' but it's important that this is done prudently and with much sensitivity.