Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:05:59 -0500 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> To: "Brent Jones" <brent.jones@otago.ac.nz> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: top posting (off-topic) Message-ID: <20071123080559.eda37a95.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <31AE442CCBC1094ABC40CE85B0149F06468CE8@MAIL1.registry.otago.ac.nz> References: <31AE442CCBC1094ABC40CE85B0149F06468CE8@MAIL1.registry.otago.ac.nz>
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"Brent Jones" <brent.jones@otago.ac.nz> 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
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