I firmly agree with Joseph on this one. We read from top to bottom.
And we read in chronological order. Thus there is no point in
rereading the same content 10 times because ten people responded to
it. This is not technical convention this is inefficacy at it's worst.
Top posting allows you to see the fresh content immediately. If you
have not been following the thread, or the response seems confusing,
or have a non-functional memory you can easily read on to regain
context.  I personally gave up the fight when I switched from pine to
a thread aware mail client. Now I use Googles web interface and so
what you do does not effect me, but bottom posting does negatively
effect some people on the list.

On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 12:42 PM, Joseph Sinclair
<plug-discussion@stcaz.net> wrote:
> Ed,
>  Not everyone agrees with the bottom-post-for-technical approach, it's a personal preference more than anything.
> Technomage_Hawke is using reading tools that don't skip effectively (no visual interface).
> It's not a lack of GUI, it's a lack of any capability to see the text, and he's absolutely correct that
> viewing bottom-post in a screen reader or braille reader is excruciating, at best.
>
> If you must bottom post, then you should trim out all the history you refer to below (just as I did to your split posting below) as a simple courtesy to people who can't actually use their eyes to skim over it.
>
> I've generally found the following compromise to work reasonably well:
>
> 1) top post if it makes sense to do so, if people want the history they can keep reading.
> 2) post interlocutory if you're responding point-by-point to something; bracket your comments with --- so the visually impaired can tell more easily when the author changes.
> 3) Bottom post if it's preferred on a list or if someone requests it, but remove as much of the thread history as you can so screen readers and braille devices don't have to re-read the entire conversation with every email.
> 4) Use a thread-aware email client to make it easier to accept that others should make their own choices in this regard.
>
> Just my thoughts,
> ==Joseph++
>
> Ed wrote:
>> Technomage, you might try a dedicated command line news reader to
>> better consume PLUG emails in audio - ask Dennis about some of the
>> alternatives.
>> do you use Emacs for your speech tool?
>> The reason for bottom posting is made at the bottom of this email -
>> you can skip that.
>>
>> Ed
>>
>> Top posting is done in the business world because business emails only
>> get reviewed by lawyers.
>> Lists that may be reviewed for technical insight, or to understand a
>> problem should be bottom posted so that the sequence of
>> question-refinement-answer-confimation is preserved.
>> PLUG is nominally a technical list - so post as you wish, just know
>> that when you are scolded, you earned it. btw trimming email cruft is
>> appreciated.
>>
>> The ability to filter on posting style does not (yet) exist in an
>> email client - ymmv
>> and yes gmail makes a bottom posted sequence of emails very readable -
>> with little kbrd/mouse
>
>
>
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