[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Steve Hall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 写于 2007-05-29 12:19:43: >> You could say that top posting is easier to write, but bottom posting >> is easier to read. The extra effort of one poster saves all the >> readers the same amount of effort. For a group, bottom posting keeps >> everyone on track. And if done well, individual posts can stand alone >> in an archive without a peruser having to go paging through a whole >> thread. >> > > Hi, > > It seems that top-posters and bottom-posters belongs to different party and > no one can convice another. > > An explaination why top-post is easier to read: > When I am viewing an e-mail, the reply is the main part of the message and > I usually quite aware of what the original post is. So I should be able to > see the reply when I open the message. > > If the message is bottom post, I will have to scroll down and down to find > where the author really start to say something. If the reply starts on line > 1000 while the messages ends on line 2000 it will be quite difficult to > know line 1000 is the start of reply and I should read from that line.
Such an event is usually an indication that far too much context has been provided (the "me-too" scenario, typically). > While for the top-post, I know the first line is the start of reply and I > can read the reply without any difficulty. In an active forum, threads > grown long quickly, with top-post, we focus on what the message saids and > waste no time. > > Write top-post or bottom-post makes no difference for me, the problem is > that I found bottom-post is harder to read since I will have to skim all > "original messages" before I could read the actual reply. > > Well, since no one could convice another, I'll stick to the "community > rule". You aren't considering the case where people are posting item-by-item responses (as I have just done). This is absolutely impossible to read when top-posting. This is why bottom-posting is preferred in pretty much any forum where item-wise responses are likely. You can argue about whether a top-post or bottom-post looks better for non-item-wise posts, but the moment someone tries to address individual points separately (which is often a good idea), there is no longer any room for questioning: bottom-posting is the clear winner. I thought that Mark Woodward demonstrated this rather well. Even if you're not posting an item-by-item response, top-posting effectively prevents anyone from writing an item-wise response to your response, since mixed top-and-bottom posting is a clear loser. -- Micah J. Cowan Programmer, musician, typesetting enthusiast, gamer... http://micah.cowan.name/
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