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Top posting

G

Genome

Jan 1, 1970
0
mc said:
I like it. I, too, alternate between top, bottom, and interleaved posting
as the situation seems to require.

The one argument I won't buy is, "It's Tradition." This is high
technology, folks, not Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe! We should always be
ready to adapt our techniques to the changing situation.

You may find that the changing situation has, in fact, been forced upon you
by Microsoft.

The default mail sending format for OE is HTML and it 'works' by ordering
the messages with vertical lines to the side of the messages. Unless you
know how to
get rid of that formatting then you are 'forced' to reply at the top of the
post.

Since the majority of people use Microsoft products and are 'novices' they
have been forced to accept this as the 'norm'. As a result you are being
forced to adapt your techniques to the 'changing situation' as required by
Microsoft.

DNA
 
R

Roy L. Fuchs

Jan 1, 1970
0
Same here, this is about communication, not about
practicing religion.


You're an idiot. It's about common sense.
 
R

Roy L. Fuchs

Jan 1, 1970
0
Same here, this is about communication, not about
practicing religion.

You're also an idiot for quoting the proper text to reply to of that
person's post, replying in a proper format, THEN you went and fully
quoted his post AGAIN under your reply. You surpass the normal top
posting retard with your newly "formatted" stupidity.

I would suggest that you read the TOFU part of the top posting
explanation. Even though you technically didn't do that, what you did
do is just as bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-posting
 
R

Roy L. Fuchs

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nothing against those who practice
anything as long as they don't demand that I join,
that is.

It's called convention, dumbass.

You wouldn't even have a job in the industry were it not for such an
animal. So yes... conform or be ignored.

Do you run red lights in your car?

Trust me, you wouldn't like what the result of anarchy would do to
you. Even though so so many of you dolts actually think it would be a
good thing.
 
R

Roy L. Fuchs

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm one of the old-timers at age 57, but I use tradition (and old tools)
only when there is a clear benefit. It is wise to be open to new ideas. I
am top posting here to show how it can be appropriate. In this case, I can
state my premise that it can be OK, illustrated by the example as follows:

No, dumbfuck... you didn't top post your post. YOU pulled what is
known as TOFU, which is even MORE retarded!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-posting
 
B

Ban

Jan 1, 1970
0
Genome said:
Click Format, Click Text..... Sometimes you might have to Click HTML
again and then back to Text.

DNA

I use OEQuoteFix which puts my answer and sig in the right place and colours
nicely the different answers in the thread.
 
M

mc

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well said, Tim. I agree with all of the following. It's very frustrating
to read a screenful of "X wrote in message Y" followed by 2 screenfuls of
text you've already seen, just to catch a 1-sentence reply at the end of all
that.
 
J

James Morrison

Jan 1, 1970
0
You may find that the changing situation has, in fact, been forced upon you
by Microsoft.

The default mail sending format for OE is HTML and it 'works' by ordering
the messages with vertical lines to the side of the messages. Unless you
know how to
get rid of that formatting then you are 'forced' to reply at the top of the
post.

Since the majority of people use Microsoft products and are 'novices' they
have been forced to accept this as the 'norm'. As a result you are being
forced to adapt your techniques to the 'changing situation' as required by
Microsoft.

Good analysis. I am also appalled at the email I get sent by people on
RIM CrackBerries. Quoting is next to none existent, end's of lines are
messed up. Its a real mess. At least from the people I communicate
with.

I remember a coop term I had while in university in the mid-90's. In
order to use their internet connection you had to read through a
netiquette course and then pass a test on it. This company had 3000+
employees so they saw the need to have everyone using the same
conventions.

Now you have kids thinking that IM is netiquette. Kids these days!.

James.
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm one of the old-timers at age 57, but I use tradition (and old tools)
only when there is a clear benefit. It is wise to be open to new ideas. I
am top posting here to show how it can be appropriate.

---
You're not open to new ideas, you're forcing yourself into believing
that there _is_ a clear benefit by leaving tradition and old tools
behind.

Top posting in the instance you're describing is _not_ appropriate.
_You_ may think so because you've already read the material
following your post, but for someone who hasn't you force them to
read your "conclusion" and then seek after what you're referring.

The normal chronological flow of printed information in our culture
is from the upper left hand corner of the page to the bottom right
hand corner, and to think that by trying to subvert that that you're
doing something acceptable, or appropriate, is just plain stupid.

All you're doing is making it more difficult for others to follow
the discussion.

Try reading a book sometime from the ends of the chapters forward
and you might gain an understanding of what you do when you top
post.
---
In this case, I can
state my premise that it can be OK, illustrated by the example as follows:

---
You can state whatever you want to, but that doesn't make it
correct.

Moreover, finding other idiots with whom you agree doesn't give your
argument support, it just means the other idiots are as wrong as you
are.
 
G

Genome

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Fields said:
On Fri, 9 Jun 2006 03:37:20 -0400, "Paul E. Schoen"
[snip]

Do not tell an idiot that they are an idiot. Do not even to presume that you
might explain to an idiot how they might be an idiot.

Such action allows the idiot to cross off the item from their idiots
checklist, select the 'appropriate' response from the cross reference and
move on to the next point on the 'Idiots Agenda'.

If you are not an idiot then you will lose.

If you are an idiot as well then you will have access to the 'Idiots
Agenda'.

Noting the response of your fellow idiot you will move immediatly to
subsection 45c) of page 1286) in preparation for some extreme stupidity.

Obviously the manual is stapled together in a backwards fashion.

If in doubt e-mail [email protected].

That's on the front.... errrr back.... errr bugger!

DNA
 
J

Jim Backus

Jan 1, 1970
0
Top posting always reminds me of the Two Ronnies sketch where the
answer is given before the question.
 
J

Jim Backus

Jan 1, 1970
0
Bottom posting is the Scum of the Earth. One or two lines below several
_pages_ of quoted text, that isn't even /trimmed/, is the lowest an Human
Being can sink to. If you don't have the courtesy to trim a specific couple
sentences or paragraph when bottom posting, don't reply at all!

Having recently been obliged to use Outlook in the corporate world,
I'm horrified to find that it doesn't follow the convention of the
antique software that I'm used to - namely that, if text is
highlighted before hitting the Reply button, it and only it is
included as quoted text. Still Microsloth must know best - look at how
successful they have become!
 
J

Jim Backus

Jan 1, 1970
0
I think I will just give up and start responding to emails by top
posting like everyone else, despite the fact that on USENET it is
tradition to bottom post.

A quick look through the posts in this thread suggests that Outlook
users tend to prefer top posting while the rest strongly prefer bottom
posting.
 
S

Sandbox Moderator

Jan 1, 1970
0
Oh, dear. Does Sandia Labs not have fullscreen mailreaders yet?

On Usenet "tradition" was established very early (pre-1975 in many cases)
and is not optimal for today.

What the **** are you talking about?

Worthless top-poster.

Feh.
 
S

Sandbox Moderator

Jan 1, 1970
0
I think I will just give up and start responding to emails by top
posting like everyone else, despite the fact that on USENET it is
tradition to bottom post.

Hey, respond to your emails however you want to. But if you flout USENET
conventions, (USENET is _*NOT*_ email), you stand the chance of being
resoundingly ignored.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Or, you could go outside and play "hide and go **** yourself".

Good Luck!
Rich
 
T

Tim Auton

Jan 1, 1970
0
mc said:
Oh, dear. Does Sandia Labs not have fullscreen mailreaders yet?

You appear to think that bottom-posting is an artifact of 'single-line
newsreaders' and thus obsolete. Correct?


Tim
 
M

mc

Jan 1, 1970
0
Sandbox Moderator said:
Hey, respond to your emails however you want to. But if you flout USENET
conventions, (USENET is _*NOT*_ email), you stand the chance of being
resoundingly ignored.

If top posting were not ALREADY widely "traditional," this debate would not
be happening.
 
T

Tim Williams

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Backus said:
Having recently been obliged to use Outlook in the corporate world,
I'm horrified to find that it doesn't follow the convention of the
antique software that I'm used to - namely that, if text is
highlighted before hitting the Reply button, it and only it is
included as quoted text.

I've never heard of that. If there were a convienient way (*cough* KB) to
select inanimate text when viewing a post, I can see that being useful for
one paragraph replies.

But a minor point. So, instead of selecting it, you have an extra step to
delete the lines above and below. It takes one to two seconds with keyboard
arrows, pagedown, the shift key, and a fast repeat rate.

Tim
 
T

Tim Williams

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Backus said:
A quick look through the posts in this thread suggests that Outlook
users tend to prefer top posting while the rest strongly prefer bottom
posting.

Odd, I counted 4 top posts out of 36 (11%) (soon to be a few more), and of
those four, three used OE (~75%) and one used ProNews (Jim Bachus, who has
also bottom posted). Of the OE users, "mc", who posted two of the three
remaining posts, has also posted twice in this thread in
snipped-bottom-posting format, ruling him out as a stereotypical habitual
top-poster. The remaining top post, by Paul E. Schoen, is his only post in
this thread, but a look at other posts of his suggests he is, in fact,
primarily a bottom-poster (without snipping or much interleaving,
unfortunately).

Thus, not all OE users are top posters; top posting is not exclusive to OE;
and top posters are not necessarily exclusively top-posting.

Tim "statistics burn the brain"
 
Having recently been obliged to use Outlook in the corporate world,
I'm horrified to find that it doesn't follow the convention of the
antique software that I'm used to - namely that, if text is
highlighted before hitting the Reply button, it and only it is
included as quoted text. Still Microsloth must know best - look at how
successful they have become!

Says more of the people buying into it than anything else :)
 
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