Re: Top posting

[Hendrik Boom <hendrik@pooq.com>]

On Fri, Jun 10, 2005 at 10:59:46AM -0400, Hal Vaughan wrote:
> On Friday 10 June 2005 03:05 am, Basajaun wrote:
> > Hal Vaughan wrote:
> > > On Thursday 09 June 2005 05:26 pm, Alex Malinovich wrote:
> > > > On Thu, 2005-06-09 at 22:06 +0100, Graham Smith wrote:
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > > > I would argue that top-posters fall into the same category as most
> > > > users of proprietary software. They are too lazy expend a bit of effort
> > > > to benefit their fellow man. Bottom-posting makes reading easier for
> > > > those who haven't followed an entire thread. Much in the same way that
> > > > users of proprietary software are too lazy to find, support, or write a
> > > > free alternative that would benefit all of mankind.
> >
> > [snip[
> >
> > > That's the most self-serving, self-centered, one-sided point of view I've
> > > read on any tech list in years.  In 3 paragraphs, you manage to insult
> > > users of proprietary software a number of ways, calling them self
> > > centered over and over, and say how FOSS people are more world oriented
> > > and less self-centered.
> > >
> > > Yet, while you are going on and on calling others self-centered, you are
> > > totally incapable of seeing how "Me! Me! Me!" your point of view is.  As
> > > long as people follow your rules, they are open minded.  People who don't
> > > are closed minded.  So does it not occur to you that many people think
> > > differently than you, so top posting may work better for you?
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > Yes, and many people could choose to believe that Mars is closer to the
> > Sun than the Earth, yet it would not make it true, would it?
> 
> And that has what to do with the price of tea in China?
> 
> Oh, nothing.  I get it.  Just your way of saying you think something is a fact 
> when it is an opinion.  There's a big difference between fact and opinion and 
> you don't see that your "2 euro cents" is an opinion, not a fact.
> 
> > Bottom-posting plus trimming _is_ the Good Thing to do, period. It is
> > not a matter of preferences. It is not a matter of your social
> > background, your language, your religion or your pet's name. Opinions
> > are like... well, everyone has one. But when talking about facts,
> > either something is true or it is not. Someone's opinion about a fact
> > is not worth as much as some other's one. Simply one is right, and the
> > other one is wrong, and millions of people preaching the wrong thing
> > don't make it right, just as the right thing is not so because some
> > others support it. The right thing is the right thing.
> 
> Again, that's your opinion, also the opinion of others.  From this thread, 
> it's clear it is not everyone's opinion.  Yes, it is the accepted practice on 
> the net from way back, but that does not make it the best or only way to 
> post.  Insisting we have to stick with something because there are some who 
> say it is the best or because it's tradition does not make your opinion fact.  
What's *really* hard to read isn't a top-posted discussion or a
bottom/middle-posted discussion, but a discussion in which people do
*both*.

-- hendrik