Top Posters Unite!

Yea, I got shamed into bottom posting, but no more! I shall revert back to my old degenerate ways no matter what the God of Usenet may say!

Who the hell decided that proper etiquette requires bottom posting anyway? Probably some snob who never finished college and wears funny robes all the time but has a long list of abbreviations after his name but doesn't actually know how to do anything!

Reply to
Ulysses
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Bottom posters just love to scroll down for *every* message instead of using their page down button or simply clicking on the next message to see something new.

Bottom posting became popular when the mouse scroll wheel was invented... one justifies the other.

Bottom posters don't like to use a split screen to display message contents since the space available is never enough to get them past the stuff they've already read before.... they open each message to the entire screen so that they have half a chance of seeing the response (at the bottom of the message of course).

Bottom posters have such a short memory that they didn't remember what they just read one posting ago and like to see it all over again or don't like to move one post up to see previous contributions.

On an emotional side, bottom posters love the suspense waiting for the new response to show up while they are scrolling feverishly downward. They would never cut, edit or abbreviate previous information to make their response shorter. This would shorten the anticipation while searching for the new contribution. Why read the readers digest version when you can have it all?

If they can't use their scroll wheel to get to the nugget of new info, the bottom poster doesn't feel fulfilled!

TOP POSTERS UNITE! Do post on the top! Do edit out repetitious information, or leave only the bare minimum required for continuity BELOW your new information (as a courtesy)! Be helpful to all the other readers so they can see the new information or response with no further fuss, delay, or effort. The biggest way to frustrate bottom posters is to give them the information up-top so that the bottom poster doesn't have to scroll or anticipate! WE SHALL PREVAIL!

Reply to
RF Dude

Have too agree

Reply to
Phil

Oh look! All the headers are with their respective posting texts too! What a concept!

And to make matters even worse they all have to waste a couple of characters every line to tell, or guess, who posted what. I didn't.

Let's see somebody bottom post this one.

Who the hell decided that proper etiquette requires bottom posting anyway? Probably some snob who never finished college and wears funny robes all the time but has a long list of abbreviations after his name but doesn't actually know how to do anything!

Reply to
Solar Flare

You can't read anyway Dave!

LOL

Reply to
Solar Flare

Why do we have to discuss some iron-bound posting style as if it were some sort of religious principle? Why not top post, middle post, or bottom post as happens to be appropriate to the situation?

If I respond to more than one point in a post, I will middle post in two or more places, snipping text that is not related to the points I am responding to.

If I am responding in the middle of a thread and someone is likely to add additional points, then bottom posting gives the best flow. Here, it is important to snip extraneous text, or everybody will have to scroll to find my contribution.

If I am answering a simple question and there is no particular reason for the thread to grow, then I top post; after being courteous enough to snip any excess text from the original post.

There is one common point in the three posting styles; snip, snip, snip.

Vaughn

Reply to
Vaughn

No, people who trim unneeded context make communication work.

Not for long. Enjoy talking to yourself.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

Reply to
Jack Ak

Agree. The important thing is to communicate effectively. A dogmatic adherence to any style can compromise good communications, and judicious snipping is very important.

Note: I snipped Vaughn's comment about snipping, which makes my comment appear as my idea. Don't snip too much--one of my pet peeves. Sometimes I see a post that responds to something, such as the following:

"Yes, it is false."

The only way to determine what the person means is to order the post as a thread tree and read the previous post. I usually don't bother, as I like to sort unread posts by date-time. However, it is not important enough to start a religious crusade.

Reply to
Ed Earl Ross

Perhaps we could work out a compromise and everyone cold just side-post?

------------------------------------- Dean Roddey Chairman/CTO, Charmed Quark Systems

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Reply to
Dean Roddey

Or type ^K RF Dude when in Agent newsreader, forever relegating Rude Fool Dude to the bit-basket for disruptive, anonymous posters ;-)

Marc Marc_F_Hult

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Reply to
Marc F Hult

wrote

Yup, works great, doesn't it?

Reply to
Dave Hinz

Great idea!

But please do it somewhere else.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

What no plonk this time for bottom posting? Now you have changed your mind again and it's "trimming" that is all important?

Attached text and references belong after the post and the headers should stay with there posted text.

....and her comes the usual again...LOL

Reply to
Solar Flare

I've always top posted; there is something I believe about Outlook Express, which I've always had, that makes bottom posting a bigger pain in the neck. I've been online since at least 1990. There were some newsgroups where it seemed everyone top posted so I didn't realize it was an issue. But bottom posters seem to also be very adamant about doing it their way. Some will put you on their blocked senders list. Some might have a legitimate reason. Some say it's more like a conversation if you bottom post. If I want a conversation, I'd be in a chatroom. To me, it's not a conversation. And many don't edit out the old posts so they get to be a mile long just to read a sentence here or there; my scrolling finger and wrist gets achy from it all. ares

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Reply to
ares

Editing is something that cuts across posting styles. Everyone should edit, even Top Posters.

Vaughn

Reply to
Vaughn

Yes, but Microsoft has never been good about following established standards.

It's more about "trim what you're not responding to", and "what the heck about that whole article _are_ you responding to?" than anything else. "Yes, I agree" without knowing where in the article you're agreeing, doesn't effectively communicate your point.

I think you're putting more effort into this than RF Dude's troll warrants.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

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