On Sat, 2008-01-05 at 05:36, Troll/Idiot wrote: > Good advice, except for #3 (bottom posting). Some people prefer bottom > posting because they personally find it more convenient and others > prefer top posting because they find that more convenient.
bg: We could debate "convenient" all day. Suffice it to say that one of the most misunderstood elements of the debate is the why of your editor placing the cursor at the top of the quoted post. It isn't done that way to encourage top-posting - quite the opposite. It is placed there so as to let the responder scroll down through the message to which they are replying, snipping irrelevancies as they proceed, and when at the end of the quoted post, proceeding with their reply. T/I: > Top posting is the common practice on some lists and bottom posting is > common on others. There is no single universally accepted convention. bg: That is about as superficial an assessment as I've yet seen. It isn't that simple. Top-posting is functional when used in a one-on-one "business" communication (I frame it in quotes so as to include personal business), but it does not work so well in a threaded discussion environment. Many people object to having the thread presented in reverse chronological order. Moreover, the top-poster generally makes no attempt to edit down, or truncate, the post to which they are replying. Top-posting forces the reader to jump around within the message to verify who said what, when. Bottom-posting makes the readers' task much faster. Finally, I've noticed for many years that, strictly WRT to lists, the serious users who date back to the dawn of e-lists mostly prefer bottom-posting. It is more the clueless newbies who embrace top-posting. Further from that, it is my considered observation that a very high proportion of *those* practice top-posting not only because it seems like the less-effort choice, but also because they don't have the slightest idea how to work the editor that opens with their email :-) Brewster -- ****************************************************************** W. Brewster Gillett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Portland, OR USA ****************************************************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
