Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 08:07:10 +0930 From: Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why top-posting is bad Message-ID: <20040827223710.GJ9754@wantadilla.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <20040827114038.GA2453@online.fr> References: <41248C2F.8020401@quadspeed.com> <417F9703-F1DC-11D8-AE79-000393BB56F2@HiWAAY.net> <007001c485ec$9d3bbb10$3300a8c0@verizon.net> <9FDC1E28-F1E2-11D8-AE79-000393BB56F2@HiWAAY.net> <20040819134840.GA3104@online.fr> <20040822015558.GO92256@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20040827114038.GA2453@online.fr>
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[-- Attachment #1 --] On Friday, 27 August 2004 at 17:10:38 +0530, Rahul Siddharthan wrote: > Replying late because I've been moving. > > Greg 'groggy' Lehey said on Aug 22, 2004 at 11:25:58: >> [Format recovered--see http://www.lemis.com/email/email-format.html] >> >> On Thursday, 19 August 2004 at 9:48:40 -0400, Rahul Siddharthan wrote: >>> David Kelly said on Aug 19, 2004 at 08:21:05: >> I've made the decision that I should not. I reformat the messages >> before replying to them (thus the message >> >> [Format recovered--see http://www.lemis.com/email/email-format.html] >> >> at the top of such replies and > > First comment: you included this message at the top of this mail, but > the only difference in format I see between your message and mine is > the quoting ">" marks. Why your "format recovered" message? Finger trouble, probably. I probably put it there to be able to copy it above, then forgot it. > Have you considered that some people, who don't see an obvious > formatting problem with their mail, may consider this message > offensive? Yes. Given the alternatives, I decided I would have to live with it. I find badly formatted messages offensive, and I tell people so, but they don't stop sending them because of that. > (I don't, because I've corresponded with you before, but I can see > that people might, and FreeBSD already has a sufficient reputation > for offensive members.) Or, if there was indeed some subtle > formatting problem in my message that you've corrected, shouldn't > you be polite enough to tell me what it is? Yes, I normally do. That's why I suspect it was an error on my part this time. >> When replying to this message, please take care not to mutilate the >> original text. >> For more information, see http://www.lemis.com/email.html >> >> at the bottom). This may take some time, but at least I can then >> understand what's going on (most of the time; some messages leave me >> mystified), and the result is legible. > > I get plenty of messages that are top-posted continuously all the way > for 10 generations. I see no problem in following the context. Except that I refuse to send an incorrectly sequenced message. > I can even appreciate that, if the quoted messages are a few weeks > or months old, (a) it is better to quote them fully rather than > partially or not at all, Not necessarily. It depends on the context. > (b) it is better to quote them at the bottom and say what you want > to say on the top. That's seldom a good option. > I agree this does not apply to FreeBSD lists, but most people may > not realise that unless it's (politely) explained to them. Anyway, > top-posting isn't unheard-of in FreeBSDland either: I've seen JKH > and Scott Long do it, among others. Yes. I think they should know better. >> better. But sometimes it's worth expressing the fact that people are >> more likely to get (voluntary) answers if they express themselves >> well; and that includes the presentation of their text. > > That can be explained politely, rather than saying "Top-posters won't > be honoured with a reply". Agreed. That wasn't my statement. I try to avoid the terms "top posting" and "bottom posting", because they're misleading. Greg -- Note: I discard all HTML mail unseen. Finger grog@FreeBSD.org for PGP public key. See complete headers for address and phone numbers. [-- Attachment #2 --] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.0 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFBL7eWIubykFB6QiMRAo0KAKCX/em6XIi2pYKQ5hqEgk5CmvQaYQCfWoIT y6Q8hpyj6h0r1pYn8r1unhk= =WJLT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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