[Tfug] Netiquette police: top-posting

[Robert Hunter]

Wikipedia has a nice article on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-posting

Apparently there are arguments for and against any style.  For
instance, my particular pet-peeve has always been in-line replies,
because I dislike having to filter through quoted text.  Despite this
I have found it useful at times to use inline replies for the sake of
clarity.

I currently use the gmail web-based thing, which you could say
promotes top-posting.  First, it creates replies with the insertion
point at the top.  Also, it automatically folds quoted text in
replies, and does some basic threading, which makes it easy to read
threads of top-posted replies.

Therefore I believe what style you use depends on factors of taste,
the behavior of the particular of mail interface you use, and even the
context of the discussion.


On 11/3/05, Claude Rubinson <rubinson at u.arizona.edu> wrote:
> Not directed at anyone in particular but there's been a rash of people
> top-posting lately.  It's really annoying.  I just want to remind
> people not to do this and, furthermore, prod people into taking the
> time to quote only those portions of the message that your replying
> to, providing context for your reply and keeping messages to a
> manageable length.  If your editor makes this difficult for you then
> it's time to get yourself a better editor.
>
> As Karsten Self likes to write,
>
>     A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
>     Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
>     A: Top-posting.
>     Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Claude
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--
Rob