[CS-FSLUG] A Favor to Ask

[Warren Sanders]

Leon Brooks wrote:
> Top-posting (TOFU) has the disadvantage of being in reverse-polish, and 
> our brains don't work that way - and even diligent trimmers forget to 
> trim stuff that they don't see. Worse, very few top-posters trim at 
> all, which can quickly bog down an ordinary mail server, to say nothing 
> of a mailing *list* server.
> 
> Bottom posting has no advantages over the other two methods, except that 
> (if they're still awake) the reader has total context by the time they 
> arrive at the response. I find bottom posting to be very tedious to 
> wade through, and generally prefer top posting to it (which says a lot, 
> 'coz I loathe top-posting).

I find the mentioning of this humorous and expected from the moment I read 
the top of this thread.  I have seen this topic several times from various 
Linux lists.  It seems to be related to the OS nature of the list too. 
Lists in regards to Microsoft tend to all post on top without even the 
discussion occurring as well.  Linux lists tend to get frustrated with this 
issue as more and more Microsoft users first jump over the fence.  So in a 
way it see it necessary to expect this topic to come up for review every 
once in a while.  Every time I try to refer folks to the same page I 
learned from but I can't seem to find it any longer.

I have found one page that reflects on bottom vs. top posting: 
http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html but there is always the third; 
in-line quoting not mentioned but equally accepted with bottom posting most 
lists prefer.  Mozilla/Firefox by default sets replys below quotes but also 
gives you the option to add the signature below or above the quoted 
depending on your first choice.

One thing I struggle with is characters per line.  I often find it annoying 
that when I forward a good message, the lines get truncated; I think I just 
realized that it must be due to the ">" it adds to the line.  So I then 
bump out past suggested 65-70 norm to 75 to capture without new word wraps 
in the composition.  I never have problems reading the wide email as my 
client wraps correctly.


-- 
Warren Sanders
Family Photo Galleries
http://SandersOnline.org