From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Nov 23 13:06:04 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BA90116A41A for ; Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:06:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from mail.potentialtech.com (internet.potentialtech.com [66.167.251.6]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7589813C46B for ; Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:06:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from working (c-71-60-127-199.hsd1.pa.comcast.net [71.60.127.199]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.potentialtech.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB22EEBC3B; Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:05:59 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:05:59 -0500 From: Bill Moran To: "Brent Jones" Message-Id: <20071123080559.eda37a95.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <31AE442CCBC1094ABC40CE85B0149F06468CE8@MAIL1.registry.otago.ac.nz> References: <31AE442CCBC1094ABC40CE85B0149F06468CE8@MAIL1.registry.otago.ac.nz> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd6.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: top posting (off-topic) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:06:04 -0000 "Brent Jones" wrote: > > I for one prefer top posting, as usually I have read a particular thread > enough times that I like to cut to the chase and read the new input > without having to scroll down, sometimes navigating an endless nesting > of >>> For me, reading through top posted replies saves time and > effort. If I happened to miss something in the conversation I can > scroll down to find it. There are three reasons _not_ to top-post and to post inline, trimming your response intelligently: 1) Top-posting does not scale up to large, complex emails. It produces incomprehensible responses when the conversation requires more than a yes or no answer. 2) Stop thinking about yourself and realize that most messages read in archives long after they were posted. Top posted messages in archives are a lot more difficult to parse, and usually require a lot of clicking around to get back to earlier messages, etc. 3) RFC-1855 says so. Most people who _honestly_ ask this question simply don't have a lot of experience with online discussions. Take the advice of people who have been doing this for years and you look smart. -- Bill Moran http://www.potentialtech.com