On 6/13/20 11:46 AM, Bob Bridges wrote:
Wait - is bottom-posting a thing?
Yes! Very MUCH so!
I've always assumed that bottom-posters are just careless; they read
down to a certain point, and then type in their responses without
thinking about where.
I'm sure there are some that are as lazy as you suggest.
But many, almost all bottom-posters that I know, do so on purpose.
Are you saying that some people post at the bottom ON PURPOSE?!
Definitely!
Why, for heaven's sake?
Notice how you can clearly see what was your comment, and how my
responses directly relate to parts of your comment?
For a very long time, email, and news, was some of the larger content on
the Internet. (Times have changed.) So, many servers, particularly
news servers, instituted ratios of comment vs quoted content.
It has long been considered better netiquette to both prune quoted
content to just what's relevant and to put your response /after/ what
your commenting about. Lest we end up with a thread like the following:
Blue
> What's your favorite color?
>
> Red.
>
>> What's your favorite color?
>>
>> 11
>>
>>> What's your favorite number?
The longer it goes on, the more difficult to it becomes to read, track,
and understand.
I think in some ways it goes back to something akin to prefix / infix /
postfix notation. Think about a phone system:
Press <number> for <so and so>.
Press <number> for <such and such department>
<static>
Press <number> to speak to the operator.
Mentally, you have to both remember <number> while also listening to the
condition to decide if you want to follow the condition.
Conversely, the following is much more natural and requires less effort:
For <so and so>, press <number>
For <such and such department> press <number>
<static>
To speak to the operator press <number>
Notice how this has a lower mental load, only requires you to think
about the condition, is that what I want, and then immediately take action.
I've experienced this with both anecdotal evidence based on experience,
and read a few articles on the subject.
Replying /after/ the item you're replying to is also much more like what
happens in normal conversation. You don't tell me your favorite color
before I ask you the question.
As others have indicated, a specific email / post in a discussion is not
the discussion in it's entireity. Nor should it be. The discussion is
the collection of all of the individual emails / posts. Each of which
should be minimal quoting, concise, and to the point.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
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