[sclug] TopPosting Was: Helping others into FOSS/Linux

[Alan Pope]

On 03/05/05, Neil Owens <neil_o at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >A. Because it breaks the logical sequence of discussion
> >Q. Why is top posting bad?
> 
> But this doesn't hold true if the question and answer were sent in two
> separate e-mails.  EVERYONE, Microsoft/Lotus users included would read the
> oldest message first (the question) then the newest message (the answer).
> 
> Or maybe the latest version of pine comes with precognition.

No, it would look like this..

------
A. Because it breaks the logical sequence of discussion
>Q. Why is top posting bad?
------

When it should look like this..

------
>Q. Why is top posting bad?
A. Because it breaks the logical sequence of discussion
------

The point being when you reply to a mail you don't generally create a
brand new blank mail (and this is true in Outhouse and Notes too). You
hit 'reply' or 'reply to all' whereupon the mail client will usually
by default take a copy of the mail you are replying to (the "Q."
above) and then put the cursor where you can start typing.

As has been pointed out by Darren, the crappier mail clients stick the
cursor *before* the question, better ones put it *after* the question.

Put it another way, you'd never see an answer to a letter in The Times
before the letter itself. It's just plain not logical when it's
chronologically "arse about face".

Cheers,
Al.