Top Posting, was Re: ASR33 $1000+ And Counting...

From: Nathan Pralle <tarsi_at_binhost.com>
Date: Fri Feb 25 09:40:54 2005

Marvin Johnston wrote:
> The *only* reason for inline or bottom posting IMNSHO is to refresh
> readers memory about what has been said in the past, and to keep things
> in context if there could be doubt.

Well, exactly. Shouldn't the burden fall to the reader of the post to
refresh his/her memory of the discussion if there was a question as to
the nature of the context of the post? For this reason, I prefer top
posting.

If I'm in a long, drawn-out discussion with someone on a listserv, I
don't need to refresh my memory as to what is happening in the
discussion. If I read a post and have trouble placing it, a simple
scroll-down to the quoted portion will give me my needed reference.
Otherwise, I can skip having to scroll past anything at all just to read
the content of the message.

Of course, the quoted portion should be limited to the bare minimum
necessary to convey the context and should be free of extra
sigs/cruft/etc.

However, since I have my mail windows configured to only display a few
paragraphs of a message, I prefer to have the response at the top for
convenience -- the quote is only for reference. If I need it, I know
it's there. If I don't, it's not in my way at the bottom.

The exception to this is when a posting involves several points; at that
point, I may choose to post within the previous writing to respond to
each point as appropriate.

Bottom posting has its place. So does top and inter-posting. Use each
one in the correct manner and keep things neat and tidy and I doubt
you'll have many people complaining.

MHO and M2C.

Nathan
Received on Fri Feb 25 2005 - 09:40:54 GMT