[BangPypers] [OT] Guido's Tweet on Top Posting

[Dhananjay Nene]

Correction inline (sorry for one more post just for that)

On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 3:09 PM, Dhananjay Nene <dhananjay.nene at gmail.com>wrote:

> Kenneth,
>
> Comments inline,
>
> On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 2:50 PM, Kenneth Gonsalves <lawgon at au-kbc.org>wrote:
>
>> On Friday 11 Sep 2009 2:41:48 pm Dhananjay Nene wrote:
>> > I haven't since a convincing argument either way on the topic why should
>> > newer folks
>> > adopt or not adopt a Usenet sensibility. IMO the usenet "pattern" is
>> simply
>> > fighting
>> > a losing battle (one I gave up ages ago before shifting to top posting).
>>
>> this is interesting. I never knew there were *any* arguments for top
>> posting -
>> apart from the default 'it is the easiest way of doing things'. Could you
>> point out these arguments?
>>
>
> Mails get used to communicate very diverse levels of detail. For a thread
> of short bursts (typically useful for managing tasks) - top posting is
> convenient since in most cases, most people are already conversant with the
> context and can reader the sender's thought immediately without moving their
> eyes down any further or moving the mouse scroll button any more than the
> bare minimum. For non-in-depth arguments (basically quick and rapid
> communication) imo bottom posting just sucks while interleaved posting is
> simply quite unnecessary. While bottom/interleaved posting has sound
> arguments, I think top posting also has some very good arguments for it as
> well. Just that I haven't seen a convincing argument for any one of them.
>
>
>> >
>> > > Others, unfortunately fail to accept it; they are simply too lazy to
>> > > be courteous to others. I would blame the webmail clients for that
>> > > though. They are simply not smart enough to put the cursor in the
>> > > right place (which is below the quote). Thunderbird does that nicely.
>> >
>> > Bottom posting is exactly that -  a courtesy.  But it is also a courtesy
>> > which is increasingly hard to offer as most people use top posting.
>>
>> bottom posting is worse than top posting - interleaved posting in context
>> is
>> what we are talking about
>>
>
> I used to use interleaved posting intensely. But thats really only when you
> get into an indepth argument on the merits or demerits of an issue where the
> arguments continuation of context is very relevant. I continue to use
> interleaved posting but always begin with a "Comments inline" phrase at the
> top (for all those conversant with top posters). But quite frankly I use
> interleaved posting in less than 1 out of every 25 mails I send. Probably
> speaks volumes about the intellectual quotient and content of the mails I
> send :). Most of my mails are 2-5 liners and they are all top posted since
> it allows the reader who is familiar with the context quickly (they can
> always read further down if unfamiliar with the context - which is a
> relatively infrequent occurrence).
>
Most of my mails are 2-5 liners and they are all top posted since it allows
the reader who is familiar with the context quickly scan and comprehend my
response and move on (they can always read further down if unfamiliar with
the context - which is a relatively infrequent occurrence).

>
> > I suspect courtesy really extends both ways - and I choose to top post by
>> > default (to be courteous to the maximum number of readers) and also be
>> > ambivalent to the top or bottom posting - I will read an interesting
>> > message either ways and not worry about whether the sender was courteous
>> to
>> > me. The simple reason is that the message matters to me and as I reader,
>> at
>> > least I do not have issues with the sender formatting it the way he or
>> she
>> > chooses it - it really is largely irrelevant.
>>
>> anyway thanks for interleaving your posts here - I personally appreciate
>> the
>> trouble you have taken
>>
>> No trouble .. thats what I used to do by default throughout the 90s. :)
>
>>  --
>> regards
>> Kenneth Gonsalves
>> Associate
>> NRC-FOSS
>> http://nrcfosshelpline.in/web/
>> _______________________________________________
>> BangPypers mailing list
>> BangPypers at python.org
>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/bangpypers
>>
>
>
>
> --
> --------------------------------------------------------
> blog: http://blog.dhananjaynene.com
> twitter: http://twitter.com/dnene
>



-- 
--------------------------------------------------------
blog: http://blog.dhananjaynene.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/dnene
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