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Re: [OT] top posting



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On 01/14/08 16:07, David wrote:
> Alex Samad wrote:
>> On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 10:32:53AM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
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>>> 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'.

Sure.  YYYY-MM-DD; DD-AAA-YYYY; MM/DD/YY; DD/MM/YY, etc.

But no one counts down unless they know what the top number is.

> 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,
> 


- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA  USA

"I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian
because I hate vegetables!"
unknown
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