In a message dated 2010.05.10 13:44 -0500, Harold Fuchs wrote:
I was using e-mail before screens and before the local devices had any storage. Messages had to be printed as they came down the wire. If you top posted it meant the reader could hit the Break/Interrupt key after reading your stuff and avoid having to re-print stuff s/he already knew.
Oh, you mean 110-baud teletype? I didn't realize anyone /ever/ bothered about context with that; I thought it was just a messaging service, like SMS or tweet today. If so, I don't think that's a comparable situation, although those early experiences with a slow messaging service may have influenced the communication etiquette that evolved with the introduction of mail and newsgroups on MIT's Project MAC and other campus networks that were later interconnected with DARPAnet: Treat bandwidth and readers' time as valuable; edit messages for context and reply on-point. Still seems like a nice idea to me.
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