> From: Thomas D. Kearns <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Wow. Now we are getting carried away. "Professionals" may > communicate that way but in the real world, top posting is absolutely > universal.
No it isn't. It's *only* universal among Microsoft Outlook Express users, and that's because MS deliberately trained them wrong. I told you they were evil. :) > Granted I'm only talking about less than tech sophisticated > lawyers and even less sophisticated clients but except for a few of us > that intermix answers (and I worry when I do that some people will be > confused), EVERYBODY top posts. >> No they don't. You can't even say that most people on this *list* top-post, much less "everybody." Were they having a sale on hysterical absolutisms at the wordsmith's? >> So yes. If you "top post" with a question I will not even answer you, >> and I >> am the List Nanny here. > > Wow. Now we are getting carried away. That's pretty obnoxious. Who > should I complain to? The List Nanny. :) (you may think I'm being flippant, but I'm not -- the list owner is equally firm on this issue.) There are two factors that, if you are as open-minded as I suspect you are, you'll have to seriously consider when I make the case against top-posting: 1. Top-posters, as was statistically proven here, are overwhelmingly the people who overquote. This alone is reason enough to urge them to change their behaviour. 2. (more importantly) It is again worth repeating that while top-posting may or may not be acceptable in a private email conversation between two parties (let's just agree to say it's debatable as to how "acceptable" it is), THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE CONVERSATION. This is a round-robin, multi-threaded conversation among many people, not all of whom have read every single post on a given topic. Therefore it is just plain good manners to quote a SMALL amount of relevant text and THEN reply to it, to give readers a linear and sensible sense of the ongoing conversation. Thus, intermixing and/or bottom-posting is really the only way to go in multi-person email conversations, usenet discussions, IRC chats and anywhere else where common sense dictates that you be inclusive of others. _Chas_ Come to ... The CHASbah! http://thechasbah.blogspot.com Chas' CULTural Calendar (for Orlando): http://ical.mac.com/chasm/Chas'CULTuralCalendar -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:imac-list@;mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:imac-list-off@;mail.maclaunch.com> For digest mode, email: <mailto:imac-list-digest@;mail.maclaunch.com> Subscription questions: <mailto:listmom@;lemlists.com> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
