Re: Why do people detest top posting so much?

Pete Clapham wrote:
Derek Broughton wrote:
Odzangba K. Dake wrote:


Ok, I just have to ask... what is so wrong with it. I admit that I
prefer
bottom posting because, well, it makes reading easier but quite a few
people on this list (and on others) actively detest it and quite often
snap at you if you bottom post.


"Bottom post"? Surely you meant "top-post". I've never seen anybody
snapped at for bottom-posting itself, though you might get a testy
response
if you quote 200 lines to add a line at the bottom that says "me
too!". More likely nobody will actually read the post...


What's the deal here?

As my standard response says:

"Please don't top-post. It makes it hard to have a conversation".

Conversations are "he said... she said...". Reversing it confuses
people.

May I humbly point out that if you're actually following the
conversation, you've read the previous messages.

I'd humbly point out that even following the conversation, reading a
message in the morning and then reading more at night means I often
don't recall what was being said, and I'm sure that there are plenty of
others that have better or more pressing things to remember than the
history of someone else's free trouble tickets on a list serve.

Bottom posting forces
you to go through all that again until you find the answer you're
interested in. Top posting makes it easier to continue a conversation.

A) WHY KEEP THE OLD MATERIAL THEN IF YOU'VE MEMORIZE THE WHOLE THING?
B) Archives for reference, or your own systems INDEXED FOR SEARCH trash
and sent items.
C) *inline* posting. Not bottom post, unless *composing* a message
dictates that it makes your intentions and message CLEAR.

May I also humbly point out that each listserve has its own customs.
/Every/ other listserve that I am involved in prefers to top-post
because it makes communication easier.

Easier to hand out a brain belch. Too lazy to properly format a message,
too properly to actually compose a message to others...top posting is
the older generation's equivalent to txtspeak. "easier" means "I don't
have to trim the post or actually put thought into what I'm trying to say."

If this one prefers bottom
posting, then fine. But to suggest that top-posting is somehow bad and
snapping at people for it is, shall we say, inappropriate at best.

Telling them they should be shot instead of just filtering their
messages is inappropriate. But it is definitely bad for people who spend
a lot of time reading and not trying to decode and sift through crud.

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Huh?
    ... If you're posting ... It's also customary to put your answer at the *bottom*, in this group, ... The reason we do all of this is to facilitate reading and responding by ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Bottom Posting
    ... Frank Slootweg wrote... ... I think we have a common reading problem here, ... That was not a top-post and not a bottom one. ...
    (news.software.readers)
  • Re: how to create a url that will open hidden divs
    ... Have you tried posting (or reading) in c.l.javascript? ... Please don't top-post. ... [Jeremy Starcher's reply with code snipped] ...
    (comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html)
  • Re: Pibgorn-Need info
    ... Thats why top posting is 3 ... at the bottom and reading each contribution in 2 ...
    (rec.arts.comics.strips)
  • Re: Top-Bottom Posting (was: Re: [opensuse] Duel Screening)
    ... posting you do not have to search where the new part starts. ... I am so unfocust I usually start reading what I already know, ... so bottom posting costs me a lot of time. ... subscription email, but looks like you have missed it): ...
    (SuSE)