Keith wrote: > why some dislike top posting. If I am following a long thread the > last thing I want to do is page down over the information I have > read before.
One of the reasons for bottom posting (on a support mailing list like this, at least) is that half the reason it exists is for people who will read it weeks or months in the future. That is to build over time archives where as many pages as possible are ordered, understandable, stand-alone tips (as in "first the description of the problem, then the solution). Consistent bottom posting makes the archives more useful for people looking for solutions via search engines, which in turn decreases the number of questions to the list (which is particularly important for lists like this, which allow messages from non-members). There are other reasons, but since I already answered to this question on this list, I'll just post the link: http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=users&msgNo=169271 and conclude with two comments: #1 most of the flames about top or bottom posting comes from people in either category who do NOT trim the original message before replying. Do that, and almost nobody will bother if you top post or the opposite. This is explained better in the link above #2 the official guidelines of this mailing list recommend (albeit implicitly) bottom posting. I have explained this here: http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=users&msgNo=169373 As long as that's the case, you may ask that somebody is expelled for top posting, but not the opposite, because only the first practice is against the guidelines of this list. If moderators were really strict, theoretically you couldn't even _complain_ about bottom posters, because they're simply following the rules. I am not saying that top posting is a reason to expel anyone, of course, just describing the current situation. As long as that's the rule, whenever a flamewar starts here on this list, the ones who are on the "wrong" side (guidelines-wise) are the top posters. In practice the best way, if not the only one, to not waste time on this here is that everybody consistently follows tip #1 above. Marco -- Should water be public or private? Australian, of course: http://stop.zona-m.net/node/52 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.org
