top posting (off-topic)

[RW]

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:22:50 +1300
"Brent Jones" <brent.jones at otago.ac.nz> wrote:

> Sorry if this is a bit off topic for this list, but it seem to be a
> comment that comes up very regularly; "please don't top post..."
> 
> I for one prefer top posting, as usually I have read a particular
> thread enough times that I like to cut to the chase and read the new
> input without having to scroll down, sometimes navigating an endless
> nesting of >>>  For me, reading through top posted replies saves time
> and effort.  If I happened to miss something in the conversation I can
> scroll down to find it.
> 
> Anyone else feel the same?

No, top-posting is superficially appealing when all replies are limited
to a few words that generally end in "sucks" or "rocks", but it doesn't
scale to complex threads. 

The point of quoting is not only to keep a record of what went
before, it's to show which aspects of previous posts are being
addressed by the reply. That sometimes requires multilevel and
interleaved quoting, which doesn't work with top-posting. And by
top-posting you make it harder for the next person to do the right
thing.