From: William Crawford Date: 2006-09-02T06:36:46+09:00 Subject: Re: Off topic: What is "top posting" ?? Chad Perrin wrote: > On Fri, Sep 01, 2006 at 10:08:36PM +0900, William Crawford wrote: >> people are using this forum/list/newsgroup the same as we are. > Speak for yourself. I assume that people should be accomodated in the > most reasonable manner possible. Ultimately, the most potentially put > out by top-posting are the blind, who (using screen readers) would end As Jamal noted, That's not entirely true. > Wait . . . you mean that greater-than symbols as indicators of old text > (like in this email) aren't a useful clue to you? Sure, once I get around to processing them. On ruby-forum, they are turned green so I can scan them quickly, but this is not the case in all clients. In a purely text-based form, I have more difficulty mentally parsing out stuff with a > than putting back together top posted stuff. I'm not claiming anyone else has the same issue, but at least 1 person does. >> Neither way is perfect, and some people are going to choose the one you >> don't like, or I don't like. That's just a fact of life, and not worth >> complaining about anymore. The war on top-posting was a stalemate. > > Read the rules set forth for ruby-talk. It may be sort of a stalemate > in general, but one should make an effort to follow the conventions of > the list/forum/whatever being used, even when arguing about top-posting > there. I agree, one should follow the rules of the forum/list/group. Have I broken them? No. I still top-post my email, though. The question was not 'why do people in ruby-talk' dislike top-posting. It was simply a question of what it is why people 'in general' dislike it. And as you agreed, in general, it's a stalemate. I'm not aiming to anger anyone, or try to get people to break rules, written or unwritten. The OP asked a serious question and everyone has been giving serious answers. It just so happens that the entire discussion is personal preference. -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.