Re: Bottom Posting Considered Harmful

From: Wayne (flames_at_dev.nul)
Date: 07/28/03 

Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 11:34:20 -0400

The most annoying thing on Usenet is bottom-posting. With
top posting (where "P1" is posing 1, "P2" is posting 2, ...):

        P1: what is annoying?
        P2: bottom-posting
> Q: what is annoying?

But with that stupid bottom posting:

        P1: what is annoying?
        P2: > what is annoying?
            bottom-posting

Bottom posting is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the early
days of Usenet it was considered quite rude to quote any old
material in one's posts. You would often see flames such as
"It costs $104 dollars to send your post around the world."

With the modern Internet it isn't so expensive to include some
old material for reference. But it is still rude to make users
re-read material that they just read in a previous post. Since
the 1980s news reader software has been available that threads
postings, to make it quite simple to read postings in order.
With correctly top-posted threads one can read it all just by
hitting "n" (assuming the new posting fits on a single screenful).

Quoting old material is just a convince for those who may not
have seen the previous posts in the thread. But most users
have seen the previous posts! Bottom posting is thus only
really useful for those suffering from short-term memory deficit
disorder. Even then, it only works when every previous poster
has quoted every previous post, in order. With correctly top-posted
material, the quoted reference material appears in "most recent
first" order, often the best since most people have just missed
one recent post, not all previous posts.

When the old material and my response easily fit on a single screen,
I don't think it matters much. Also, when responding to a single
point in a post (rather than the post as a whole) it may make sense
to quote part of the message and respond below. I also try to remember
the more rabid of the bottom posters and attempt to humor them.

But every so often I get annoyed with "your top-posting has been
fixed". There is a good reason why the default of new posting
software, from "postnews", rn, tin, ..., netscape, mozilla, and
many others I'm sure, is to place the material above the automatically
quoted older material.

Bottom posting is just plain rude. You don't have to agree, and
you certainly have the right to ignore my (proudly) top-posted
articles, ploonk me, and post your own opinions. But please
stop "fixing" other peoples posts? No one died and left you
in charge of other peoples' posting habits!

Don't dwell in the dark muck at the bottom! Come and join your
friends at the top! We welcome you in the light and warmth up here!

-Wayne

ynotssor wrote:

> "Bill Unruh" <unruh@string.physics.ubc.ca> quoted and wrote in message
> news:bg12nq$liq$1@string.physics.ubc.ca
>
>
>>](and add "how not to top post" to the reading list too, please)
>>
>>Uh, why? I like top posting. The new info is right there without
>>wading through reams of ancient junk.
>
>
> 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?

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Re: Slightly OT ? regarding posting to this group...
    ... I am not an old time usenet user, ... Bottom posting take much scrolling. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.vb)
  • Re: [OT] Top Posting vs Bottom posting
    ... As flame wars ebbed and flowed, I decided to give bottom posting a swing. ... When left to their own devices, Engineers tend to ... personality then your words could. ...
    (microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript)
  • Re: [OT] Top Posting vs Bottom posting
    ... As flame wars ebbed and flowed, I decided to give bottom posting a swing. ... When left to their own devices, Engineers tend to design ... Bottom posting tells me more about your personality then ...
    (microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript)
  • Re: Linux locking on boot
    ... Short discussions where somebody makes an original post that has ... start reading at the top of the thread, for the original posting. ... > Regular usenet posters/repliers are accustomed to bottom posting, ... It's no offense to streamline a posting in usenet, ...
    (alt.os.linux)
  • Re: Tbs vs. 50-move rule
    ... communication is to impart information clearly, with minimal speed bumps. ... Bottom posting is a huge speed bump for me in threads I've been following. ... I think you would be surprised to learn that most usenet posters prefer top ...
    (rec.games.chess.computer)