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

[Patrick]

Roland Turner (SCLUG) wrote:
> I have been around the 'net long enough to see the top-posting argument
> come up more times than I can remember, and the pro/con arguments are
[...]
Me too.  I like to interleave but I must admit that it makes threads 
hard to make sense of.
> 
> Patrick Kirk alleges:
> 
> 
> 
>>The reason Microsoft and commercial email clients top post is that
>>usability studies show this is how people like it.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be intrigued to see documentary support for this claim. I'm willing to
> accept that users reared on Outlook will see Outlook as good.
> 
> 
http://www.robotwisdom.com/web/pagelength.html#bailout

Once you start asking people to scroll, they lose interest.
>>No-one will buy
>>something they don't like.  The interesting question is why a standard
>>was set without doing a usability study first.
In many ways, its a question of technology.  Email is fundamentally 
awkward when it comes to threaded arguments compared to web boards. 
Thats why only techies use mailing lists anymore.

Anyway, we are all growing more tolerant IMO.  Usually there would have 
been an invocation of Godwins Law by now.