[arch-general] top posting

[Aaron Griffin]

On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 8:06 PM, Scott <scottro at nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> Ok, to be serious for a minute, judging from a few posts, not everyone
>  understands, so just to clarify for newcomers, or for anyone who doesn't
>  have English as their first language.  (Though many of the latter write
>  better than we native speakers, but that's another thread.) :)
>
>  You old timers who know all this can skip the rest, it's a rehash of
>  some common netiquette.
>
>
>
>  Top posting is posting your response above the post you are answering.
>
>  For example:
>
>  I write:
>  I think Arch is great.
>
>  Someone responds by posting above it, so it looks like:
>
>  Yeah, you're right.
>
>  >I think Arch is great
>
>  (that's assuming the responder's email handles quoting.)
>
>  One thing that can confuse people is that this is often the norm in
>  business correspondence. It might even be preferable, if for example,
>  the boss responds above a long detailed proposal, Yes, do it.
>
>  Whether or not that's really the best way, it is pretty accepted in
>  business.  You can't even blame MS mailers, since most mailers do start
>  at the top of an email by default, including mutt.  This also makes
>  sense.  You can read and respond.
>
>  On technical mailing lists, the preferred method is almost always what's
>  called in line posting.  I write.
>
>  I think Arch is great.
>
>  I like the fact that they have a small base install
>
>  You respond
>
>  >I think Arch is great.
>
>  Yes, I do too.
>
>  >I like the fact that they have a small base install.
>
>  I feel the same way, though sometimes, I miss having X installed and
>  configured upon installation.
>
>
>  In other words, you reply to point A below point A and point B below
>  point B, so it imitates a spoken conversation.
>
>  Two other points often overlooked by newcomers are trimming and thread
>  hijacking.  Trimming means to snip unneeded parts of an email.  For
>  example, if I write 10 lines explaining my work situation, but only the
>  last two lines actually have my question, you snip the first 8 lines.
>  This way, other people following the thread don't have to scroll through
>  the entire story to see the question.
>
>  Thread hijacking is when you take a thread, for example, this one, then
>  just change the subject line to start a new thread.  MS email clients
>  will make it look like a new thread, but many other clients pay
>  attention to the actual headers, and will include your new thread as
>  part of the old one.  As many people won't even notice that, it's
>  another common mistake.
>
>  So, just thought I'd clarify these three for folks who aren't aware of
>  them, and folks who might not have realized that many of us were being
>  silly, deliberately top posting while complaining about it.
>
>  Hopefully this is of use to some and those who already know it heeded
>  the warning at the beginning and didn't read it.  :)

Woah. /me blinks

This should be wikified 8)