TLDR (or TL;DR) is a common internet acronym for “Too Long; Didn’t Read.”
In its simplest form, TLDR is used to express that a piece of digital text (an article, email, etc.) is too long to be worth reading.
A lone “TLDR?” without any explanation could be an intentionally rude or funny comment.
People tend to accompany their TLDR with a summary of what’s being discussed. At the bottom of a lengthy article on football, for example, you might find a comment that says “TLDR: the Patriots will win the next Super Bowl.”
Along this same line, writers sometimes include a TLDR at the top or bottom of their web article, email, or text message. This is meant to be a summary of what the author is saying, and it’s a disclaimer that the details of a long text may not be worth every reader’s time. A ten paragraph product review for a crappy laptop, for example, could simply start with “TLDR: this laptop sucks.” That’s the quick summary, and you can read further for details.
