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Re: Fisking vs Top-Posting

2010-09-21 11:46:04
This is the sort of thread I usually don't respond to, but we have this debate 
about top-posting so often I just can't resist this time.  (Must have been 
something in my coffee.)

Personally, I don't care whether people bottom-post, top-post, or comment 
in-line.   What I dearly wish for (but do not expect to ever get) is 
consistency.

At least two or three times a week, someone forwards me an email thread with 8 
or 9 embedded messages that works out to six or seven hundred lines of text.  A 
couple were top-posted, a couple bottom-posted, and the remainder inserted 
comments in-line.  Yuck.  Trying to follow the conversation at that point is 
incredibly confusing.  Start at the top, jump to the bottom, oh, this one is 
in-line... Now my head hurts, I need more coffee, and I still haven't figured 
out the point of this stupid thread.

I should note that this sort of mess would be easiest if everyone bottom-posted 
(because I could just read the mess in order) but consistent top-posting or 
commenting in-line can be followed fairly reasonably as well.  So, I propose 
the following etiquette: first responder chooses the style (e.g., in-line, 
top-post, bottom-post).  Anyone that responds to *that* email should follow the 
established precedent.

And yes, I am aware that it will never happen.

Tim
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