On Apr 18, 2008, at 1:40 AM, Michael J McCafferty wrote:
That's an easy argument... question then answer. But I am runninglarger windows than most (my mail client is maximized on one of the two24" Wide-screens at 1920x1200, and I'd spend my day scrolling if everyone did it "Question then Answer" / Bottom Post.
Well, sure, if nobody ever trimmed.Those of us who don't like top-posted replies also don't like people who refuse to trim the quoted messages down to the relevant parts.
I'd have included more of your message, but you basically go on a bitch-fest about those of us who appreciate others who actually put some more time and thought into their work, and I saw no need to include any of that for context.
Honestly, I had a much more verbose, point-by-point reply that I was working on, when I realized that nobody here simply gives a shit, anyway. I mean, if you're bitching about having to scroll a mail message on your 24" full-screen mail client, think of how those of us working on laptops must feel! Not only do you write an email where I had to scroll just to read _your_ text, but then there was another "page" worth of quoted message I needed to scroll through at the end!
Why was it even there at all? You didn't really respond directly to anything there, aside from trying to bitch-slap Tracy for stating his understanding of mail etiquette, and then commiserate with the original poster. You could have done that without quoting any of the messages at all, yet you insisted on including that completely redundant bit of information.
Okay, so this is going to be a bit more verbose than I thought. I guess you touched a nerve.
This is a mailing list, people. Chances are very good that the message to which you're replying is one what we've seen in the relatively recent past. Even if it's something that crossed our eyes weeks ago, there are archives of this list for us to look things up in later. Google will even find them for us. A lot of us even keep our own archives (most simply, by not deleting list mail), and with the miracles of modern mail client software, your reply is grouped in order with the message to which you replied.
Do you finish all your phone calls by playing a recording of all your previous phone calls? When you write a paper or article (okay, maybe think back to school), did you include the entirety of the books from which you did your research when you submitted your work? No, I didn't think so. If you need to supply context or historical information, you only supply the minimum necessary to establish an understanding. In the case of papers/articles, you list a bibliography and maybe include quotes from your source material (hmm, a lot like email...) In the case of phone calls, you may make mention of previous correspondence ("Hey, remember we talked about...").
So why do people insist on top-posting and -- AND -- still including the entirety of the message to which they're replying? I'm of the firm believe that it's pure laziness. It's too much work to trim the quoted message down to the relevant parts (or simply delete the quoted message altogether.) It's too much work to trim and then move my cursor to the bottom and reply there. It's too much work to be considerate and make reading my messages easier for my recipients.
Well, fine, then. Sod off.To my knowledge, nearly all of the people here that value trimmed- quoting with interspersed or bottom-posted replies (i.e., the "traditional" style) also happen to be the very ones that provide the best answers to the hardest questions and provide the most useful information on this list. If the rest of you wish to continue enjoying the advantage of our free time and willingness to participate, the least you can do is try -- just, please, TRY -- to give us a little respect along the way.
Lambasting us, calling us, essentially, "conceited, backwards, stuck up elitist anal-retentive bastards," is a great way to make us lose respect for you, make us not want to work with you or donate our time, knowledge and expertise to your career advancement. It shows us that you simply don't respect us, you just want us to solve your problems.
Personally, I don't care to be used like that. I don't imagine others do, either.
Gregory -- Gregory K. Ruiz-Ade <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> OpenPGP Key ID: EAF4844B keyserver: pgpkeys.mit.edu
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