On Tue, 29 May 2007, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Slightly Off-topic, but I'm still wondering why bottom-posting is
> prefered on Vim Mainling List.
It's usually preferred more than top-posting. Even on the blind Linux
users' mailing list they prefer that you don't "top-post".
> As far as I know, most e-mail clients defaults to top-posting (i.e.
> replied message shows before the original message),
In my experience it's more that it can be frustrating to try to
automatically position the cursor without the software "guessing"
wrong, and it's not helpful for context replying (see below). In
other words, it's better to let the user move the cursor where
he wants it.
Those email clients that automatically insert your signature above the
quoted message are generally considered to be broken--regardless of
whether you prefer to top-post--but that's another issue involving its
own discussion.[1]
> and I personally feel top-posting much much easier to read than
> bottom-posting.
This is a matter of opinion and great debate. I've seen the arguments
get as heated as the infamous "editor wars".
> Is there any point (or historic reason) choosing bottom-post ?
Email etiquette is that you trim the message you're responding to down
to the minimum while retaining context, and intersperse your replies
to the relevant sections of the original message (as I've done here).
Top-posting makes it impossible to do this and makes it unclear
exactly what you're responding to, especially if you don't trim--a bad
habit I see far more often among top-posters.
Occasionally I see a tagline that illustrates it very well:
A. Because it breaks the logical sequence of discussion
Q. Why is top posting bad?
Also, I'd like to point out that just because something is done for
"historical reasons" doesn't make it bad, outmoded, invalid, or
whatever. After all, if that were true vi/Vim wouldn't be used any
more.[2] There are usually good reasons why things become established
conventions, and rarely do those reasons just go away.
- Christian
[1] In summary, you shouldn't include the signature of the original
message in your reply and your signature should always appear at
the bottom of your message--preferably after a signature delimiter
line ("-- " (dash, dash, space)). The sig-delimiter allows email
clients to automatically strip out the signature when you select
reply.
[2] Occasionally you'll see people contend that vi is a "legacy"
editor and for that reason shouldn't be used any more, and by
extension Vim is "flawed" because it's based on a "legacy" editor.
--
In specifications, Murphy's Law supersedes Ohm's.
Christian J. Robinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://infynity.spodzone.com/
PGP keys: 0x893B0EAF / 0xFB698360 http://infynity.spodzone.com/pgp
