[arch-general] Top Posting Revisited

[Rafa Griman]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 5:19 AM, Ralf Mardorf
<ralf.mardorf at alice-dsl.net> wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: arch-general-bounces at archlinux.org on behalf of Jeffrey Lynn Parke Jr.
> Sent: Fri 12/16/2011 05:03
>
> I don't really think that people put any conscious thought into if they
> should top or bottom post. A majority of mail clients and
> the aforementioned Gmail default to top posting. What I would like to know
> is why is this the common practice. [snip]
>
> +++
>
> I can explain the reason why :p.
>
> In the office they file that way. Old sheets are under new
> sheets. It's convenient since you don't need to change
> all the papers, just to file another sheet.
>
> For emails it of cause is better to do it vice versa, but the
> majority doesn't work scientific/creative, so the better style
> has no advantage for those people. For them it's easier to
> do the same thing on the computer, as they do for 'real' folder.

There are other reasons I've seen:
     - people that use "smart" phones have a limited screen size and
it's "easier" to top post.
     - from a behavioural point of view, people follow these steps:
          1.- read the whole mail
          2.- hit the reply button
          3.- reply the e-mail (top posting, ofcourse ;)
          4.- don't give a heck if it answers everything, if they
forgot something, if they misunderstood something, ...
     - not knowing that top posting is not "correct" or "accepted"
     - people know, but don't care

   Rafa