Why do people detest top posting so much?

02-23-2009, 01:32 PM

m_epling wrote:

> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
...
> Odzangba</blockquote>
> same here i dont understand the big deal 
> </body>
> </html>

You, otoh, should simply be shot for posting in html-only to a mail list.
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02-23-2009, 01:33 PM

Odzangba K. Dake wrote:

> Ok, I just have to ask... what is so wrong with it. I admit that I prefer
> bottom posting because, well, it makes reading easier but quite a few
> people on this list (and on others) actively detest it and quite often
> snap at you if you bottom post.

"Bottom post"? Surely you meant "top-post". I've never seen anybody
snapped at for bottom-posting itself, though you might get a testy response
if you quote 200 lines to add a line at the bottom that says "me too!".
More likely nobody will actually read the post...

> What's the deal here?

As my standard response says:

"Please don't top-post. It makes it hard to have a conversation".

Conversations are "he said... she said...". Reversing it confuses people.
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02-23-2009, 01:34 PM

Thomas Wolf wrote:

> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
...
> </blockquote>
> 
> I'm the guy Bart had that conversation with last week :-) 
> I like top-posting better and find it easier to read.  But I agree
> that the worst possible situation, in terms of readability, is to have a
> thread that mixes top- and bottom-posting.  So one should adopt the
> style preferred by the given mailing list - which is bottom-posting
> here. 

AND NO HTML!

It's telling that two of the three people in the thread, so far, who think
that top-posting makes sense, posted in html.
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02-23-2009, 01:51 PM

Hi Odzangba

On Monday 23 February 2009 23:45:01 Odzangba K. Dake wrote:
> Ok, I just have to ask... what is so wrong with it. I admit that I prefer
> bottom posting because, well, it makes reading easier but quite a few

How about a compromise and we post in the middle? JK

James

> people on this list (and on others) actively detest it and quite often snap
> at you if you bottom post. What's the deal here?
>
> --
> Odzangba

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02-23-2009, 01:53 PM

On Tue, 24 Feb 2009, James Takac wrote:

>
> etirw thgim enoemos dibrof navaeH
> !ereh tfel ot thgir
>
> James
>
>

Nothing like seeing someone outsmart himself or herself.

Whoever wrote that backward text, is somewhat backward in the use of
backward spellcheckers; the text contains a spelling error.

I just couldn't resist that, apart from the troll nature of the thread.

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you'll know what the answer means."
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02-23-2009, 01:55 PM

On 02/23/2009 09:17 AM, Mihamina Rakotomandimby (R12y) wrote:
> Thomas Wolf wrote:
>
>> thread that mixes top- and bottom-posting. So one should adopt the
>> style preferred by the given mailing list - which is bottom-posting here.
>>
>
> And text-only too...
> What is the deal with that gray background?
>

WTF - I thought I was posting in plain text! In the earlier thread,
someone was kind enough to point out that one could, in Thunderbird,
specify plain text by:

1) Go to Address Book and find ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com
2) Select Properties and make the "Prefers to receive messages formatted
as" field Plain Text

I did that. Apparently it's not working if you're seeing a grey
background (I just verified what I send out - it's HTML :-( Before
setting it this way, I had also set Thunderbird's
Preferences->Composition->Send Options->Plain Text Domains -
"ubuntu.com" to avoid sending out HTML to this mailing list.
(Although, I leave the "Text Format" combo box at the top of Send
Options set to "Send the message in HTML anyway" - but that's only
supposed to be for users for which I have not specified a preference...
I can't default to plain text because internally to our company, we use
HTML formatted emails).

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong here? I'm using Shredder
(Thunderbird 3.0b2).

thanks,
tom

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02-23-2009, 01:58 PM

Hi

On Monday 23 February 2009 23:53:42 m_epling wrote:
> Odzangba K. Dake wrote:
> Ok, I just have to ask... what is so wrong with it. I admit that I prefer
> bottom posting because, well, it makes reading easier but quite a few
> people on this list (and on others) actively detest it and quite often snap
> at you if you bottom post. What's the deal here?
>
>
>
>
> --
> Odzangba
> same here i dont understand the big deal

Nor do I really. If well done and thought out each can be easily read. It's
just a matter of taste or in some cases culture like writting from left to
right or right to left. Those who write right to left as their daily routine
would likely question the practice of writting left to right considering it
unnatural as an example.

etirw thgim enoemos dibrof navaeH
!ereh tfel ot thgir

James

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02-23-2009, 02:09 PM

Hi

On Tuesday 24 February 2009 00:17:23 Mihamina Rakotomandimby (R12y) wrote:
> Thomas Wolf wrote:
> > thread that mixes top- and bottom-posting. So one should adopt the
> > style preferred by the given mailing list - which is bottom-posting here.
>
> And text-only too...
> What is the deal with that gray background?
>
> --
> Chef de projet chez Vectoris
> http://www.google.com/search?q=mihamina+rakotomandimby
> System: xUbuntu 8.10 with almost all from package install

One could argue for both sides on a number of reasons. The main one being the
natural flow for the English language which is in use here is left to right
then top to bottom. Mind you there are languages in which this convention is
moot like Hebrew/Aramaic or the various Oriental languages

Personally I can't see why both styles can't be used if appropriate measures
are used to make the post readable, i.e. trimming and possibly referring to
sections directly that one is replying to so as not to confuse others.

I'm on other forums where both styles are used and 99.99% of the time I have
no probs reading them and figuring what they relate to

James

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02-23-2009, 02:13 PM

James Takac wrote:
>> Ok, I just have to ask... what is so wrong with it. I admit that I prefer
>> bottom posting because, well, it makes reading easier but quite a few
>
> How about a compromise and we post in the middle? JK

Your compromise definitely doesnt help readability.

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System: xUbuntu 8.10 with almost all from package install

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02-23-2009, 02:15 PM

On Monday 23 February 2009 14:55:04 Thomas Wolf wrote:

> WTF - I thought I was posting in plain text! In the earlier thread,

> someone was kind enough to point out that one could, in Thunderbird,

> specify plain text by:

> Apparently it's not working if you're seeing a grey

> background (I just verified what I send out - it's HTML :-(

Well whatever you did, it's working now. This email (the one I'm responding to) is definitely not HTML.

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