[USDaniels]

You're equating "bullet pointing" with "dumbing down" (which it can be).

I've never noticed that DavidC's posts need any of the following suggestions, but here are some incomplete thoughts on formatting for this particular medium.

Formatting for the web is different than for paper. Sure, you can adopt a "take it or leave it" mentality to the content you produce, or you can try to format it in a way that more of your audience will be able to get through it and digest it. That is the goal after all. You wouldn't have written it if you didn't want anyone to use it.


Subheadings
Concerning subheadings: Use them. Lots of them.

Paragraphs
I think it's pretty proven at this point that people don't like reading long paragraphs on a computer screens. Shorten them or manufacture line breaks in them. This helps the eye/brain team index information. Think of it more as newspaper writing instead of novel writing.

This doesn't mean you have to dumb it down, it just means you have to give the eye a break every so often. You are still going to try to group thoughts together, but you'll use any shift in tone or logic process as an excuse to put a line break in.

Shoot for paragraphs to be no longer than four sentences.

Allowing one sentence to stand alone as a paragraph is no longer considered a "no-no" like they taught you in school.

Italics
Use italics to emphasize


Lists
Use them for emphasis where they will help the flow of the page.

To Sum Up
There is a lot written about this on the web (oddly enough), so I'll stop here. But, it is something we should think about when posting.

And one final thought. Don't lecture your audience about formatting, it's boring.