Alex Samad wrote:
On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 10:32:53AM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 01/14/08 10:21, Ebanutiy Ebanatik Ebanatovich wrote:Sorry for offtopic but I'm wondering if the cause of avoiding of top posting is in something technical (e.g. to help forum software to create weekly digests correctly) or is it a question of etiquette?Rationality, because while some cultures read left->right, and others read right->left, all read top->bottom. None read bottom->top.[flame on]but we do read chronologically (in date order) and I for one hate having to go 3 pages down to read the answer to the previous email (in a threaded news reader!).Although I do admit that if you start in the last email of a thread it easier to read top to bottom
I think that different date formats are employed even in different English speaking countries.
As far as top-posting is concerned, in order to assist the OP - two words - 'Logical Progression'. Especially within a problem resolving format, such as this list, top-posting supplies a complete, step by step history of the situation from initial problem to final solution.
Of course, the lazy way is just to read the top of the exchange and grab the solution, but: this means that no level of understanding is achieved by the reader; the reader doesn't have the opportunity to contribute to the situation; bottom-up posting doesn't contribute to efficient archiving; and Debian, at least from my experience, isn't in the market of catering to laziness.
Regards, -- David Palmer Linux User - #352034