From: Mark Wilden <mark@...>
Date: 2008-05-28T06:19:25+09:00
Subject: Re: Top-posting  (was: Re: documentation for ruby?)


On May 27, 2008, at 12:58 PM, Bill Kelly wrote:
>
> My recollection is top-posting was actively discouraged, but overall  
> relatively rare until the advent of AOL, Netscape, and
> SLIP/PPP connections which opened the floodgates, allowing
> residential users onto the Internet by the millions. . . .

Actually, my experience was somewhat the opposite. I started on GEnie,  
where quoting was rare. Then I came to Usenet and absolutely could not  
believe the amount of quoting that went on. It was clearly without any  
thought or reason - people just quoted the entire thread in every  
single message. You still see that, in this very group.

That's what really gripes me - the fact that people quote the entire  
universe, but it doesn't matter as long as they put the new stuff at  
the bottom, forcing you have to scroll down to read it. What sense is  
there in that?

If the self-appointed netiquette police paid as much attention to  
excessive quoting as they do to top and bottom posting, the whole  
issue would be moot, in my eyes.

///ark