@EllenJS @Teri_Kanefield Well that is clear as mud. The problem is that in a series of some number of posts, I only see some small subset of those posts, and often it's totally random, for example I might see just posts 3 and post 6 (just as an example). And sure, if I wanted to go clicking around I might be able to see the full thread, but if I don't know what the thread is about then I'm rarely motivated to do that. But also, every so often if you do that then you lose your place in the home timeline, and when you return you have to scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll etc. to get back to where you were, if you can even remember the last post you read and then find it. Since that is SUPER annoying to me I just won't do it; my solution in such a case is to just stop following (or if necessary, mute or block) a person who persists in leaving short serial posts. I don't really feel like I am missing out when I do that, because Mastodon is such a firehose that on most days there are too many posts in my home timeline to begin with.
Teri said she likes making short form posts, but I hate reading them when there are several of them in a series even if they do all appear, which almost never happens. So, the obvious solution is for me to unfollow her. That way, neither of us are annoying each other. Most people who want to make long posts eventually seem to find an instance that allows them. Teri doesn't want to, and that's her right, but it's also my right not to have any of them appear in my home timeline.