On 08/05/18 01:44 PM, I. Ivanov wrote:
>
> On 2018-05-08 07:38 AM, Anton Aylward wrote:
>> On 07/05/18 07:14 PM, I. Ivanov wrote:
>>> Is it an European practice not to top post?
>> No.
>> It is how it always "used to be" before such things as GMail
> I don't "completely" agree about GMail (because I have observed the practice
> before that). But thank you any way...
>>> I deal with quite a bit of email and everyone (that I have worked with in
>>> North
>>> America) top posts when they reply to email.
>> I've been dealing with Email since the start of the 1980s and this pernicious
>> effect is very, very recent.
You might also consider inserting blank lines to separate responses.
It makes thing a LOT more readable.
I've left the 'compacted' response that I received from you above rather than
trimming it out so as to illustrate this point.
>> Most of us consider it, at the very least, impolite.
> I understand - I did feel like this when I was in Europe (and started email
> about the same time as you). Again - it is not the practice in North America
> - I
> had to adapt myself.
I don't think it is an American thing.
Certainly USENET of the 1980s here in North America was doing bottom posting and
interlinear responses. That was what, nearly 40 years ago.
There are still many etiquette sites that advise
1. trimming so that only the matter being replied to is present.
At the very least be pleased to trim out all the inserted footers!
> Meanwhile my friends in Europe "bottom post" all the time.
One might speculate that they are more polite :-)
That given the North Americans I deal with on various other lists (hello
Patrick!) are also polite.
> If I understand correctly - you are under impression that I am trying to
> mislead
> you intentionally.
No.
Let me repeat:
>> So we have TWO issues here.
>> The first is politeness.
>> The second is clarity of communications.
> I want to thank everybody that participated. I understand there are people
> very
> passionate about one method vs. another. What I wanted to gather (and also
> convey) is that:
> - how we write / respond to the list affects the readers (and the responses we
> have back). We may want to keep this in mind.
Yes.
Visual layout is also a factor.
inserting blank lines costs one keystroke, one character, but adds immensely to
the readability.
Proper grammar -- the "ov" vs "of" war is long over -- and punctuation is also
important.
> We can surely move forward to a much more interesting topic - Darktable!
And hopefully we can expect some better efforts on clarity and focus from here
on in.
> - top posting is not right or wrong. It is just different.
The real evil, and I do mean EVIL, of top posting is that practitioners don't
trim the message, they just quote the whole thread to date. OK, a lot of bottom
posters do that too, but and they are equally wrong.
Both, in that case, are failing to indicate exactly what they are replying to
because they fail to trim the message of everything superfluous.
That is on reason is encourage in-line responses.
It is a matter for FOCUS and CLARITY.
A: Yes.
> Q: Are you sure?
>> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
>>> Q: Why is top posting frowned upon?
--
One supplier of software for bank dealing rooms takes the view that anyone who
pirates its code is welcome, as using it without skilled technical support
would be a fast way for a bank to lose millions. -- Ross Anderson
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