[plug] plip windows 98 <-> linux

[Peter Wright]

On Tue, Feb 05, 2002 at 12:20:45PM +0800, William Kenworthy wrote:
> Obviously a typo - top-posting rules.

_Actually_... I don't really have any problem with top-posting in and of
itself, although my lack of objection is mostly theoretical unfortunately.

The problem is not so much top-posting as not trimming the stuff you're
responding to. And since the whole nature of top-posting means that...
well... what you've written is "on-top" of what you're responding to,
those who top-post tend to not trim what they're responding to (at all).

The other problem is that the reader can't easily see which part of the
original email you're responding to... if you trim the email and split it
into relevant chunks and reply to the appropriate elements separately, I
think it's much easier to follow. And if you trim-and-respond-to-separate-
bits, you'll find that it's not terribly easy to read (or to write) when
the responded-to text comes _after_ the response text (as for a classic
"top" post reply).

> I (and any number of others) use a 3 window view - if no interesting text
> is in view and I have to scroll down ... I just hit delete, its easier :)

This is related to the bit about trimming. And then it's probably also
related to not writing emails longer than they really need to be, which is
probably why so few people read my emails to the end. :)

> Hows that for starting a flame war - was a slow day anyway!  From memory
> the last time a similar topic came up the list exploded!

I'm sure everyone on this list is far too mature to be suckered into a
flame war like that... *tries to look inconspicuous* :)

> BillK

Pete.
-- 
http://akira.apana.org.au/~pete/
If at first you don't succeed, try management.