[SLUG] Discussion List Guidelines

[john at johnallsopp.co.uk]

> 7.* Make your posts read from top to bottom. The MS practice of
> encouraging replies at the top of messages means massive amounts of
> bandwidth are wasted.
>
> Could someone explain the bit about wasted bandwidth.

> Martin

Hiya

I've seen lots of discussion about this in other places. Basically it
seems the Linux way is to paraphrase what's come before and then reply
underneath. That way someone who hasn't followed the thread can read a
quick summary followed by the reply, which makes sense.

The MS way of replying at the top means no-one ever paraphrases, so an
email gets to carry the whole of the previous conversation and just
grows like topsy, hence the bandwidth. I suppose it must have come
about because of how some early version of Outlook handled things.

J