Re: Top posting and quoting (was Re: [PLUG] Hauppauge PVR-500 capture...)

[Matt Mossholder <matt@mossholder.com>]

On Fri, 2007-11-02 at 22:09 -0400, Robert Spangler wrote:
> With this kind of logic then you should never quote.  :)

That might be true if it was the only factor, but it isn't. Providing
context for people to follow along is a good thing. I also recognize
that having a question and answer within one email makes finding
solutions via search engines easier. But neither top or bottom posting
is better at this

> It is also a bad assumption that everyone either threads or keeps read mail.  
> I just happen to one of those people.  I believe the only time top posting is 
> acceptable is when the message is Forwarded.


I didn't make that assumption. I was talking about other peoples
assumptions about me. I happen to know first hand I use a threaded
mailer and keep archives ;)

The point I probably missed making was that it just as much of a pain in
the butt for me to read all of the redundant history in each message as
it is for you to scroll down a bit to get back on track with the
messaging thread. The difference is that with bottom posting, I often
have to scroll for every message (frequently to read something like "me
too"). With top posting, I only need to scroll at the beginning of the
thread. It is even more pronounced for untrimmed messages.

All of the complaints I see against top posting seem to center around
"it kills the flow of conversation". Well, how good would most
conversations be if you -had- to repeat what the other party said before
starting your point? I know my take on it. It would get annoying in a
hurry. That is how I often feel about bottom posting.

Granted, for a message that requires responding to multiple points,
interleaving can make sense. But it isn't the only way to go. 

It would be nice if people would spend less time asking everyone else to
change the way they send email (which hasn't worked in, what, 30 years
of complaining?), and just activate the dynamic filtering in their
heads. Top post, bottom post, it doesn't really matter, since it is the
content that counts. But that is just as much wishful thinking as
wanting everyone to bottom post.

Oh, and just for the record... if you go look back at all of the posts I
have made to this list, I tend to bottom post :)





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