[X-Newbies] Top posing in mail?

[Jamie Kahn Genet]

Tony Johansen <tjoh7019 at bigpond.net.au> wrote:

> What started as an amusing and tongue in cheek thread this morning has
> become a forum for the fatuous it would appear, such as those who very
> rudely call others inconsiderate.
> 
> There are valid arguments both ways. For me the mail opens at the top, and
> there I like to see the message I am receiving, and I see previous posts in
> the form of footnotes to refer to if necessary.
> 
> But really, this is a storm in a tea cup. It matters little whether top or
> bottom is used just so long as it is consistent. So long as most of my mail
> is top posted I'm happy to stick with that.
> 
> If Mr Genet's passions went into advocating universal standards we would all
> be better off and have more time to see the humour in simple things.
> 
> Tony Johansen,
> President, Transmanian Vampire and Bottom Poster Spotting Society.

This email is a perfect example of why top posting is annoying,
inefficient and impolite. If you cannot work out why, read my sig at the
end. Anyway, thanks - you've saved me the bother of pointing out for the
umpteenth time why top posting is bad. The email speaks for itself.

Regards,
 Jamie Kahn Genet

P.S. Boy do I feel sorry for anyone joining the conversation at this
point. Quoted text and replies top, bottom and all over.

P.P.S. Normally I would snip large portions of quoted text below, but
I'm leaving it this time to display how difficult it is to follow when
it's not in chronological order. Sorry.

> On 19/5/2005 9:36 PM, "B.ru c-e •K1u-tch-k0" <AppleRocket at NoSpamMail.net>
> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > On May 19, 2005, at 7:00 AM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
> > 
> >> Tony Johansen <tjoh7019 at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
> >> 
> >> 
> >>> Couldn't agree more, long live the top posters!
> >>> 
> >> 
> >> Yes! Long live inconsiderate people! Who gives a sh*t about others?
> >> 
> >> Regards,
> >>  Jamie Kahn Genet
> >> --  
> > 
> > In my experience, business email ends to reply to longer writings and
> > more often is not distributed on a mailing list (where bottom posting
> > would convey the logical sequence of events to people who didn't
> > write the originating email). More likely business email is a reply
> > to a person or a group of people, all of whom were aware of the
> > contents of the original
> > email. In this case, it is not so terrible to show the reply first --
> > this way, people know what the original email was, and they are more
> > interested in seeing the reply.
> > 
> > On mailing lists, it can become very hard to determine what the heck
> > is going on when top posting is used. This is for the reasons already
> > stated - that many people will read the email, but almost none of
> > them will know the contents of the email that is being replied to. So
> > a logical flow of events makes things clear.
> > 
> > Outlook dominates the business world and is a defacto standard for
> > such writings. Most business people expect top posting and are
> > confused by bottom posting. Outlook does not take into account the
> > needs of other users - for example, people who subscribe to mailing
> > lists. It is possible to bottom post in Outlook, but the vast
> > majority of its users don't know how.
> > 
> > Perhaps a really good email program in the near future will be able
> > to examine quoting levels, then rearrange received emails according
> > to one's preferences. And we'll never have to spend countless hours
> > debating the issue.
> > 
> > Just call me a flexible top and bottom poster.
-- 
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 aka TOFU (Top-post Over, Full quote Under)
Q: What is the most annoying thing on mailing lists?