User blog comment:ZDee/Important: New Wiki Policy/@comment-1021808-20131026042903/@comment-6042046-20131026054928

Rather than quoting the first 250 characters, you may select the most pertinent 250 characters. :)

Choice quotes are, of course, better than plucking the first few sentences for display. The truncation (shortening) code currently in place is done by a machine, so it doesn't know which parts are "choice" to readers. You can make that decision yourself. Then you can follow up with a written summary of the events.