Top posting

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Friday, 19 March 2004 at 17:53:09 -0500, Jerry McAllister wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 19, 2004, Charles McManis clacked the keyboard to produce:
>>> Perhaps it isn't "logical", if you've read all the email then the quoted
>>> thread is just reference anyway. This is the "new stuff". I love being able
>>> to read mail in the preview-pane vs "next message" , jump to the bottom,
>>> "next message" jump to the bottom.
>
> Maybe, if you only have one thread to deal with.  But in any given
> day I am seeing hundreds of messages from scores of threads.  Some
> precious but out of context tidbit is easily orphaned and becomes
> meaningless.

Of course, leaving extraneous text behind doesn't help either.
This message had 12 lines of relevant text and 70 of irrelevant text
(exceptionally, left behind as evidence; there's nothing below of any
further interest).  This makes people scroll all the way down just to
discover there's nothing there.

Greg

>
> ////jerry
>
>>>
>>> It comes down to opinion I think
>>> --Chuck
>>>
>>>
>>> On Friday 19 March 2004 09:46, Louis LeBlanc wrote:
>>>> On 03/19/04 09:21 AM, Joshua Lokken sat at the `puter and typed:
>>>>> http://www.google.com/search?q=rfc+top+posting&sourceid=mozilla-search&st
>>>>> art=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Wow, almost every single reply to the list today was top posted.
>>>>> People, please know (and you must, you have to read them, too)
>>>>> that posting replies to the top of an email is, well, counter-
>>>>> intuitive, hard to follow, and goes against the general grain of
>>>>> RFC 1855.  Please, it has been requested from many users of this
>>>>> list, do not top post replies, but don't stop sending them ;)
>>>>
>>>> Yes, it has been requested from many users, and quite a few have flat
>>>> out refused to follow this logical norm.  Others simply follow the
>>>> precedent set in any given thread, and some few will go so far as to
>>>> delete the trailing messages and try to herd an already errant thread
>>>> in the right direction.  For my part, my reply behavior depends on the
>>>> audience.  One would think that a company with so many geeks (from
>>>> developers to SW architects) would tend to do this right, but not so.
>>>>
>>>> Bottom line, don't hold your breath.  Unfortunately, many mail clients
>>>> don't show the replied email during reply composition but place it
>>>> below the response, and most default to replying at the top anyway.
>>>> Most users just don't bother to correct it when the option is there.
>>>>
>>>> I feel your pain dude.
>>>>
>>>> Lou
>>>
>>
>> [format broken, see above and then back down to here]
>>
>> No, it is not logical. If everyone top-posts, the email must be read in
>> reverse to recapture thoughts of others or points made. If twleve people
>> reply properly and you reply the way your `opinion' tells you too, you
>> have broken the path or reading, by forcing people to jump to the bottom
>> to refresh the last message and then back to the top to get the latest
>> thoughts or info. It is also quite obnoxious to review such top-posters
>> threads that are intermixed when looking through the archives.
>>
>> Finally, as pointed out previously, it does not follow convention. It is
>> much like Microsft `enhancing' an industry standard, which actually
>> breaks the standard.
>>
>> --
>> Bob
>>
>> "Play is the work of children. It's very serious stuff. And if it's
>> properly structured in a developmental program, children can blossom."
>> -Bob Keeshan aka `Captain Kangaroo'
>> _______________________________________________
>> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
>> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"

--
Note: I discard all HTML mail unseen.
Finger grog at FreeBSD.org for PGP public key.
See complete headers for address and phone numbers.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 187 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/attachments/20040320/dc0c7063/attachment.bin