[NTLUG:Discuss] list etiquette

[Jeff Demel]

Personally, I prefer top posting for a couple reasons.

One, it seems to make more logical sense.  For example, my email inbox
displays new messages on top and the progressively older messages as it goes
down.  I don't have to guess the sequence of messages or look at the time
stamp, I know which came in first and which came in last.  For me, the body
of the email makes more logical sense if written in the same way.  If I'm
following a thread that is top posting, I've already read the messages
below, so all I have to do is read the new one, right there on top.  If I
come in to the thread later, then all I have to do is start from the bottom
and work my way up or start from the first post and read each in sequence
(if the original messages have been removed).

And second, bottom and in-line posting can get way out of hand and
confusing.  How irritating is it to have to scroll down and try to figure
out which part is the new message and which is the old?  Especially when
email clients can quote out original messages differently.  Is it set off by
tabs?  Is it set off by greater than (>)?  Is it set of by anything?  When
it's re-posted, does the client add another greater than sign or tab,
pushing the text farther and farther right, until it starts breaking the
lines at odd intervals?  And which is which?  And what if each e-mail client
is doing something different?  And it is so irritating how easy it is to
confuse authors when someone uses in-line posting.  Usually, the first time
it's done in a thread it's easy to follow.  However, if it's done again or
three times or four times...  Damn that gets confusing.  And most folks
aren't careful enough to go through and credit each instance with author and
date stamp.

That's just my $.02, and probably an extremely minority opinion, I know.

-Jeff