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Re: Fisking vs Top-Posting

2010-09-20 18:59:31
Scott Brim <scott(_dot_)brim(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com> wrote:

btw top-posting is not the spawn of evil demons, it's perfectly
appropriate in some situations, e.g. this one, where the original mail
is just attached for possible reference.

   Aha!

   (Scott can take care of himself without feeling the need to retaliate;
so I'll respond to his email...)

   Top-posting which copies the _entire_ post being responded to is
definitely the spawn of evil demons!

   It's also incredibly annoying to those of us trying to follow high-
bandwidth lists like this one.

   Fortunately, I can see 80 lines at a glance as I read this list in
"mutt"; so it's not Scott's mail which annoys me -- it's the ones where
two folks go back and forth without ever trimming the part "quoted for
possible reference", and I can't remember whether _both_ of them top-
post.

   Folks, please:

   Let's not quote entire emails "for possible reference" in a high-
volume list. Those of us worth reaching know how to use threaded
email clients, and we can _very_ easily find the message you're
replying to.

   Better yet, don't quote any more than the bare minimum to set context,
whether you top-post, bottom-post, or respond inline.

   (Myself, I find it much easier to follow in-line comments, so I take
the effort to post that way. I'll be happy to pay attention to private
emails cricicizing me for this, but I _will_not_ participate in a
public flame-war about how dreadful this practice is.)

--
John Leslie <john(_at_)jlc(_dot_)net>
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