Top posting

Greg 'groggy' Lehey grog at FreeBSD.org
Sun Mar 21 16:43:49 PST 2004


On Sunday, 21 March 2004 at 19:35:48 -0500, Lucas Holt wrote:
> Aside from mailing lists, I tend to be a top poster.  I don't like
> when people leave the last 12 emails and then bottom post.. 

"Bottom posting", where you leave the entire previous message, is only
marginally better than top posting.

> i have to scroll all day.

If the text is important, you should be reading it.  If it isn't, the
sender shouldn't have included it.

> The other irritant is people who actually post in the middle of
> messages.  That breaks the "FLOW" as well.

On the contrary, it shows you what the discussion is about.  In this
example, I'm answering your points one by one.  I'll repeat the whole
thing with top posting.  Tell me if it's easier to read.

> After someone replies top or bottom its VERY hard to read.

Agreed, mixing styles is the worst of the lot.  That's a very good
reason to insist on one style.

> How about a new convention.  Delete everything but the last reply in
> the thread when you send to the list and say bottom post.  I can
> live with that as a top poster.  If I don't have to scroll all day
> to bottom post, its not a big deal.

What's wrong with the convention we have?  I'll answer this message a
third time in the style you propose.  Tell me if it's easier to read.

Greg
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