[X-Newbies] Top posing in mail?

[Jamie Kahn Genet]

Steven Rogers <srogers1 at austin.rr.com> wrote:

> On May 19, 2005, at 4:48 AM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
> 
> > Steven Rogers <srogers1 at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On May 18, 2005, at 4:21 AM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
> >>
> >>> Steven Rogers <srogers1 at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> So what's the deal with Mail now doing replies as top-posting in
> >>>> Tiger (i.e., the cursor is at the top) ?!
> >>>>
> >>>> I'd hoped that 10.4.1 was going to fix it, but no joy there. Is
> >>>> there at least a setting that changes this?
> >>>
> >>> Just manually move the insertion point below quoted text.
> >>
> >> Well, thanks to my years of computing experience, I was able to work
> >> that out. But I'm more concerned about the newbies who aren't really
> >> aware of the difference.
> >
> > Sorry, but anyone silly enough not to solve this annoyance by clicking
> > the mouse once... well, I'd better not go there ;-)
> 
> Well, first of all, the whole point of software design is to prevent
> that sort of thing. If there is a "right" place to put the cursor,  
> then the program should damn well put the cursor there, and if there
> are two possible "right" places, then there should be a preference.  
> If there's some controversy, the WORST possible solution is to issue
> version X of the program built around the idea that the bottom is the
> right place, and then release version X+1 built around the idea that
> the top is the right place. Whoever made that design choice should be
> beaten with their own spec - and anyone who says the *USER* should  
> solve it, should be forced to use Windows forever.

*grins* Surely you would not consign someone to so awful a fate?

> Secondly, have you actually tried it???  Not only is the cursor stuck
> at the bottom, there's some additional tag wrapped around the message
> so that when you click at the bottom, and then hit the backspace key
> to get rid of trailing junk, your cursor hops right over the message
> and back to the top. You have to click back to the bottom *again* to
> edit away trailing crud. So not only does this encourage the newbie  
> to top-post, it encourages those who do take the extra step to do it
> "The Right Way" to still leave all the crap on the end of the message
> (as the top-posters are wont to do).
> 
> SR

Good grief - Mail 2 really does that? Urrgh. I'm frankly amazed. No text
editor (which includes Mail's editor for emails) should ever move the
insertion point in such a manner (assuming I understand you correctly).
I have only used Mail 1 myself. But I can certainly see how annoying
that must be to you. All I can do is suggest moving to another email
program. There are some very attractive alternatives, these days.

Regards,
 Jamie Kahn Genet
-- 
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?