Re: [OT] Top posting (was RE: question)
On Tuesday 03 January 2006 22:31, George Sexton wrote: Since most people use threaded mail readers that go from oldest to newest, this isn't much of a problem for most people. You should look for a better mail reader. I'm sorry. What was not a problem? My mailreader uses threads. Ok, seriously, even though I am not active on this list I am on others. I seldom take the effort to answer people who top-post without giving me a clue to what they are answering. I do not have the time to go backwards in the thread to understand what it's all about, but I might have the time for a short answer. I think this list is so active that I am sertain others feel the same in here. -- Bjørge Solli - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[OT] Top posting (was RE: question)
From: Carl Olivier [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] A lot of people on this forum Top Post. Is this really such a big issue? I can sum it up with the following quote: -- snip -- A: Top posting. Q: What's the most confusing thing about mailing list messages? -- snip -- If I'm reading through list traffic, I cannot remember the context of each thread, and that context may jump about as different posters respond to different parts of a thread at different times. *Carefully trimmed* context, followed by a response, helps me get up to speed and respond more quickly and possibly more accurately than I otherwise would. However, speaking personally, I'd rather somebody top-posted than left ten pages of mangled context in place and added a line at the bottom. A message to a mailing list will get read many more times than it is written. Overall, time is saved if the poster makes the effort to create a clear, communicative message. However, the poster's time is typically saved by not doing so, and an individual will usually only do something if it is worthwhile to *them* rather than to the community at large. That's life. I'd like to think that if I reliably construct clear messages, regulars on the list may choose to respond to me where they wouldn't choose to respond to a messy, mangled message*. However, I've not seen or done any studies to check whether this might be the case. - Peter * Interested parties may wish to check the game theory literature for repeated rounds in games, of which the most famous is probably the repeated Prisoner's Dilemma. - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [OT] Top posting (was RE: question)
Peter Crowther wrote: From: Carl Olivier [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] A lot of people on this forum Top Post. Is this really such a big issue? I can sum it up with the following quote: -- snip -- A: Top posting. Q: What's the most confusing thing about mailing list messages? -- snip -- [longish explanation and field report why top posts are bad] There are some good links providing instructions on proper posting in usenet and mailing lists: http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html http://alt-usage-english.org/posting_quotes.html Those who understand German can enjoy this one: http://got.to/quote I suggest a monthly posting of a short version of this lists's FAQ (or just a link to http://tomcat.apache.org/faq/). It would help making this list more readable since it would avoid many unnecessary postings. I do also suggest to use 'proper' (which implies a poduct from an organisation other than Microsoft) mail clients like Mozilla Thunderbird but that's just wishful thinking... Kind regards, Wolfgang - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [OT] Top posting (was RE: question)
Since most people use threaded mail readers that go from oldest to newest, this isn't much of a problem for most people. You should look for a better mail reader. George Sexton MH Software, Inc. http://www.mhsoftware.com/ Voice: 303 438 9585 -Original Message- From: Peter Crowther [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 9:35 AM To: Tomcat Users List Subject: [OT] Top posting (was RE: question) From: Carl Olivier [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] A lot of people on this forum Top Post. Is this really such a big issue? I can sum it up with the following quote: -- snip -- A: Top posting. Q: What's the most confusing thing about mailing list messages? -- snip -- If I'm reading through list traffic, I cannot remember the context of each thread, and that context may jump about as different posters respond to different parts of a thread at different times. *Carefully trimmed* context, followed by a response, helps me get up to speed and respond more quickly and possibly more accurately than I otherwise would. However, speaking personally, I'd rather somebody top-posted than left ten pages of mangled context in place and added a line at the bottom. A message to a mailing list will get read many more times than it is written. Overall, time is saved if the poster makes the effort to create a clear, communicative message. However, the poster's time is typically saved by not doing so, and an individual will usually only do something if it is worthwhile to *them* rather than to the community at large. That's life. I'd like to think that if I reliably construct clear messages, regulars on the list may choose to respond to me where they wouldn't choose to respond to a messy, mangled message*. However, I've not seen or done any studies to check whether this might be the case. - Peter * Interested parties may wish to check the game theory literature for repeated rounds in games, of which the most famous is probably the repeated Prisoner's Dilemma. - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [OT] Top posting (was RE: question)
From: George Sexton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Since most people use threaded mail readers that go from oldest to newest, this isn't much of a problem for most people. ... I'm sorry? Which 'this' were you referring to here? It wasn't in context, so I'm afraid I can't tell for sure. I'll have to guess - another issue with top posting. [scrolls down, reads his entire earlier message] Ah. After some research, I assume it was: that context may jump about as different posters respond to different parts of a thread at different times. It would appear that 'most people' have better memories than I do, then - which is fair enough. You should look for a better mail reader. I've used plenty of different mail and news readers over the years. I've not yet found one that reminds me of the context when I have jumped back (say) five messages in a thread, rather than (say) eight. As always, I'd welcome any recommendations! - Peter - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]