[mythtv-users] OT: top/bottom/side posting - WAS Re: When is .20 coming?

[Disconnect]

Here are two versions of this response to consider, from three common 
perspectives.

One - you are reading this 'live' and so the original messages are a couple 
of minutes old in your memory.
Two - you are reading this 'batched' - the whole conversation (up to now) is 
probably in a row in your client, so the original message is seconds old.
Three - you are reading this months from now in an online archive.  The 
original message has never been read by you and may not even be readily 
accessible. (Think search results.)

(Don't have a fit, the messages are not an accurate summary of this 
discussion - I threw my earlier message in as a quote and generally tweaked 
around for example purposes.)

Message One (bottom-posted and trimmed):
=====================================

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006, Zach White did have cause to say:
> part of the original email. I don't want to wade through 3-4 pages of
> stuff I've already read to see your 1 line reply, when you could have

See the original point about wading through previous junk.



Message Two (top-posted and trimmed):
=====================================

See the original point about wading through previous junk.

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006, Zach White did have cause to say:
> 
> And to further clarify, since I see people doing this on this list a
> lot:
> 
> It's not enough to put your reply at the bottom. Post-pruning means 
> trimming out the irrelevent garbage. If you're replying to several points
> in an email, put your reply to each point directly under the relevent
> part of the original email. I don't want to wade through 3-4 pages of
> stuff I've already read to see your 1 line reply, when you could have
> trimmed all but the 3 lines you're replying to.
> 
> -Zach
>
> On Thu, Aug 17, 2006 at 02:43:17PM -0400, Phill Wiggin wrote:
> > 
> > Or, in short:
> > On the Myth lists, Top-Posting = Bad. Post-pruning = Good!
> > 
> > On Thu, 17 Aug 2006, Disconnect did have cause to say:
> > > A> You asked why I top post. Because I can remember what was said
> > > earlier without having to re-read it yet again. If I can't, I can look 
> > > down and find what I need.
> >


In the 'live' reading scenario, you probably remember what was said and - 
since the message is short and the response is simple - both are equivalent.  
Same for the batched scenario.  For the archive scenario, the first message 
is worthless.  "The original point" refers to a message that may or may not 
be findable in the archives.

I didn't quite intend this to go so long, but there it is.  FWIW I'm not 
actually of the opinion that there is a hard and fast rule either way. IMHO 
for some messages bottom is best, for some top is best, for some 
interleaving.  (Such as the 5 page problem description that gets quoted in 
its entirety with "Nevermind, I had to reboot" at the bottom. Having 
most/all of the problem might be good for the archive, but that "I fixed it 
with this simple thing here" could just as easily go at the top without 
impacting the usefulness or comprehension of the message. The trimmed 
bottom-post version has little/no problem description, so "frotzinator fix" 
won't find it when searching.)

Anyway. I'm gonna STFU and GBTW now. :)