In the vast majority of open source projects top posting is discouraged (that is replying to emails at the top of a mail rather than inline).
There are a number of reasons for this, and a number of reasons why some people don't like it. The most important reason for not encouraging top posting, IMHO, is usable archives. Think of someone coming to this list for the first time via the archives. They want to know about something so they search the archives. Top posted threads make it very difficult to follow the context of the discussion. There is no "conversation". Whereas inline posting provides context and thus makes the archives much more useful. This context also makes it useful for people who may be involved in three conversations at the same time. It allows them to quickly review what has already been said. For a fuller discussion of the pros/cons of top posting see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style Do mentors have any other comments about top posting? Do the committers have any preference (I recommend you decide which way to do it and stick to it, leading by example is the only way to ensure newcomers play by the local preferences). Ross -- Ross Gardler OSS Watch - supporting open source in education and research http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk
