IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW PEOPLE POST ANSWERS AS LONG AS THEY POST USEFUL ANSWERS.
Good grief. I top post. I prefer to top read. Each to his/her own. Learn to
live with it. I have. It's a preference. Much like the preference of fvwm vs
M$Windoze. Or ranch houses vs. colonials vs bungalows. Or pork vs beef vs
veggies. PLEASE JUST DROP IT.
Why I top-post and prefer to top-read:
I don't want to have to scroll through an entire conversation to find the
two-line comment added at the end. It's only pressing the page-down key a few
[or few dozen] times for each message, but that gets old when one reads several
hundred messages each day.
In real conversations, people don't repeat all the words leading up to their
additional bits. Why do it in the written form? Those who need the context
(which is nearly no one) can find the beginning of the conversation just as
easily as those who know the context can search for the beginning of reply
posted near the bottom of a missive. The only situation in which bottom posting
makes sense to me is when the post is the very last in a series of complex
discussions and where following all the logic leading to the final lines is
crucial to understanding the material. This happens in things like physics,
chemistry, mathematics and engineering texts but exceedingly rarely in a mailing
list.
bg wrote:
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.
[snip]
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
"Many." Not "All" and certainly not "Most" (as far as I know.) The take-home
message is IT DOESN'T MATTER. Read what is written in the order presented.
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.
You mean _your_ task. It certainly makes mine much slower. Your preference
doesn't fit my brain functioning style. Don't try to force it on me. Or others
who have similar functioning. I don't cross-check every phrase unless I need to
attribute statements. This list rarely requires that.
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.
Has nothing to do with my ability to drive my editor, with my background in
"business" or "one-to-one" communications or with my lack of experience with
mailing lists. (I've been a member of and managed lists since 1982. I think I
don't count as a newbie.) It's the way I operate.
I know there are many like me because this conversation seems to come up
regularly.
I know there are many like you because this conversation seems to come up
regularly.
I'll live with your way of posting, but you'll have to live with mine. I'm not
going to change just to suit the people who don't think the way I do. If I
wanted to do that, I'd just go back to using M$ crap for everything.
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
:-)
I'll ignore the smiley and take offense. Just because some may not know how to
edit hardly means that that applies to "a very high proportion."
Brewster
Donald.
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