From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2006-09-02T07:02:59+09:00
Subject: Re: Off topic: What is "top posting" ??

On Sat, Sep 02, 2006 at 06:36:46AM +0900, William Crawford wrote:
> 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.

For him.  He's the first blind person I've run across with that opinion.
Others, in the past, have provided the impression I relayed in my
message.


> 
> > 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.

Didn't you just dismiss the necessity of providing logically ordered
information by saying that "most" people have newsreaders and mail
clients that properly thread these days?  Now you're complaining that
not everyone has a mail client that color codes quoted text.

I'm using mutt.  It turns quoted text green just fine.  I refer you back
to your previous "most" comment.


> 
> >> 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.

Understood.  I tied it into ruby-talk/comp.lang.ruby because the
question, it seemed to me, was asked in reference to this list.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
Ben Franklin: "As we enjoy great Advantages from the Inventions of
others we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any
Invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously."