I wouldn't even call this a religious issue. It's more an issue of
convenience. It is a ROYAL PITA to go into preferences to change between
two successive replies, and even more so to REMEMBER which way you have
it set and whether you NEED to change it for a particular reply (I am
using the Seamonkey mail client). Even if I tried to get it right I'd
screw up some replies. So since there are some instances where I really
have to top post, everybody gets top posted. Well, JUST ABOUT everybody!
And please don't suggest that some other mail client (your favorite, of
course) makes it easier to switch so you can do some top and some bottom
posting. Changing mail clients ***IS*** a religious issue :-)
Jim Hartley
NoOp wrote:
On 10/02/2007 06:17 PM, Andrew Douglas Pitonyak wrote:
I know people that venomously disagree. Although I have seen lists,
organizations, and employers with specific standards for reply (some
top, some bottom), I am not aware of any such thing for this list.
Perhaps this will help:
http://www.openoffice.org/ml_guidelines.html
<quote>
Replying
When replying to other people it is customary to intersperse your
response with their questions, both so you can answer the actual
question that was asked, and so everyone else has some idea what you are
talking about. It is also customary to limit your quoting to the minimum
possible to get your point across. Take the time to be considerate,
remember those subscribers who have slow, expensive connections.
</quote>
As I said previously, it doesn't say that you must bottom post, it does
however request that you at least "intersperse your response with their
questions".
I think the obvious is to attempt to abide by the general flow of a list
(be it top or bottom or other posting), and in general just try to be
courteous in whatever manner you reply. That said, it would be nice to
see OOo adopt a similar set of list rules to those of the Ubuntu lists
(particularly the 'Proper quoting' the 'Threading' bits):
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community/mailinglists/etiquette
I don't think top vs bottom posting is a religious issue at all... just
as going with the flow of traffic isn't a religious issue - it's just
common sense to do that rather than go against the flow of traffic on a
busy freeway.
Also rfc1855 *does* address the issue:
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt
3.1.1 General Guidelines for mailing lists and NetNews
<quote>
- If you are sending a reply to a message or a posting be sure you
summarize the original at the top of the message, or include just
enough text of the original to give a context. This will make
sure readers understand when they start to read your response.
Since NetNews, especially, is proliferated by distributing the
postings from one host to another, it is possible to see a
response to a message before seeing the original. Giving context
helps everyone. But do not include the entire original!
</quote>
Perhaps your reading is different than mine?
In any case it is up to those that provide the list (this list) to make
the posting rules. I'm sure that one of you/us can submit an RFE to ask
that the list be all top, bottom, or as it is now (interspersed). I'm
perfectly happy the outcome of that RFE, but in the meantime *please do*
try to abide by the published OOo guidelines:
http://www.openoffice.org/ml_guidelines.html
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