2008/1/5, bg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > On Sat, 2008-01-05 at 05:36, Troll/Idiot wrote: > > > Good advice, except for #3 (bottom posting). Some people prefer bottom > > posting because they personally find it more convenient and others > > prefer top posting because they find that more convenient. > > bg: > > We could debate "convenient" all day. Suffice it to say that one of the > most misunderstood elements of the debate is the why of your editor > placing the cursor at the top of the quoted post. It isn't done that > way to encourage top-posting - quite the opposite. It is placed there so > as to let the responder scroll down through the message to which they > are replying, snipping irrelevancies as they proceed, and when at the > end of the quoted post, proceeding with their reply. > > T/I: > > > Top posting is the common practice on some lists and bottom posting is > > common on others. There is no single universally accepted convention. > > bg: > > That is about as superficial an assessment as I've yet seen. It isn't > that simple. Top-posting is functional when used in a one-on-one > "business" communication (I frame it in quotes so as to include personal > business), but it does not work so well in a threaded discussion > environment. Many people object to having the thread presented in > reverse chronological order. Moreover, the top-poster generally makes > no attempt to edit down, or truncate, the post to which they are > replying. Top-posting forces the reader to jump around within the > message to verify who said what, when. Bottom-posting makes the > readers' task much faster. > > Finally, I've noticed for many years that, strictly WRT to lists, > the serious users who date back to the dawn of e-lists mostly prefer > bottom-posting. It is more the clueless newbies who embrace top-posting. > > Further from that, it is my considered observation that a very > high proportion of *those* practice top-posting not only because it > seems like the less-effort choice, but also because they don't have > the slightest idea how to work the editor that opens with their email > :-) > > Brewster > > -- > ****************************************************************** > W. Brewster Gillett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Portland, OR USA > ******************************************************************
We can live with top-posting, we can live with bottom-posting, and we can probably survive a mixture as well, even if it does make things more difficult. But since this particular list seems to have employed bottom-posting since its inception - at least since I became a list member a couple of years ago - it would save us all a great deal of frustration and irritation if we could all agree to bottom-post. Inveterate bottom-posters will be overjoyed to see that Ordnung has at last been restored, while top-posters will take pleasure in seeing that they, too, have been able to master this demanding technique.... Henri
