On Sunday, October 13, 2002, at 12:58 , Thomas D. Kearns wrote: >> In most newsgroups and mailing lists like this one, it's considered >> good >> form to reply beneath the quoted text, like I am doing here. > > I disagree. Posting underneath makes me crazy. Posters still forget to > trim and you wind up scrolling down indefinitely. Also, since the > heading is the same, the reader should know what the topic is and my > preference is to see immediately what the poster is saying, except of > course when responses are intermixed...like I'm doing here. :)
And I think intermixed, or "stacked" messages, are easier to read and more logical as far as the flow is concerned. Using the above as an example, we're seeing here three generations of this message. The original comment, your reply and MY reply. The nice thing about this is it gives the reader a complete, brief "synopsis" of the comments at which my comment is directed so I don't have to go back and rehash everything to make my reply understandable. I often wonder how people got along back when people would send physical LETTERS to pen pals. Replying to something said in a previous letter must've been a pain, since you'd probably have to briefly go over whatever was originially said, lest the person at the other end (who has probably forgotten exactly what he/she said in the last letter) not know what you're talking about. Computers have certainly made written communication easier. And they're rapidly making audio-visual communcation easier, too. Funny... I could never have imagined how far computers would advance communication 15 years ago when I was using my Commodore 64. Back then, I would never have imagined computers powerful enough to do even HALF of what's being done now on them. It blows my mind to realize that this computer is literally thousands of times more powerful than the computer I was using 15 years ago, with 2048 times the RAM memory and a hard drive that stores as much as *254,200* of the old Commodore 64 floppies! Now that I think about it, that much advancement in less than two decades is a little scary... it makes me wonder what the computer I'll be using in 2017 will be able to do... John A. Ardelli Owner/Moderator BIFIDA-L: The Original Spina Bifida Discussion List The Crystal Corner - The Original Dark Crystal Discussion List -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
