[wplug] A question of etiquette

Tom Rhodes trhodes at FreeBSD.org
Thu Jun 2 00:44:59 EDT 2005


On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 00:34:43 -0400
Edward Walter <ewalter at walterama.com> wrote:

> I've been managing and using various forms of Linux / Unix for over a 
> decade now...  I've NEVER been "scolded" for top posting and I would 
> have strong words for anyone who had the gall to do so.  I read most of 
> the messages in the lists I participate in (more or less in order). 

I like those that bottom, honestly.
 
> Bottom posting requires duplication of effort on my part so I really 
> don't like it when other people bottom post.  Either way though, I see 
> it as a matter of personal preference and it seems silly to endorse one 
> method or the other as the "open source way".
> 
> So.... which do you prefer?  Vi or Emacs?

Personal taste: vi(1)
Personal bait:	Bill, your mail client adds whitespace at the end of
		sentences.


> 
> Bill Moran wrote:
> 
> >Brandon Kuczenski <brandon at 301south.net> wrote:
> >
> >  
> >
> >>I have been noticing a trend on the various technical and non-technical 
> >>mailing lists to which I am subscribed, and I'm curious as to what WPLUG 
> >>folk think.
> >>
> >>I was "raised" on the idea that top-posting, meaning putting the text of 
> >>your response to a posting ABOVE the text to which the response was 
> >>directed, was *bad*.  The idea being that when reading the mail 
> >>(presumably on a console), one would want to see the context of the email 
> >>in chronological order, so that he or she may best formulate a reply. 
> >>However, I have noticed that practically nobody in my other mailing lists 
> >>does this, and people have even requested that I cease my 'bottom posting' 
> >>because they can't find my responses to their emails, that they must go 
> >>"burrowing" throughout the body of the email [text-only, of course, 
> >>rendered in a non-fixed-width font], free-email-provider headers intact
> >>and all, in order to figure out which part of it they had written, and 
> >>which had come from me.
> >>
> >>Even in discussions with my professors, or with other technically minded 
> >>people, I've noticed a mixture of 'top-posting' and 'bottom-posting'. 
> >>Perhaps the orthodoxy of the issue has ceased to be relevant.
> >>
> >>I suppose, what I am really interested in, is the amount of 'evangelism' 
> >>the open-source community wants to be involved with vis-a-vis top-posting. 
> >>Is it even important at all?
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >There are some cases where it doesn't matter.  Such as a single reply to
> >the entire email.  But my habit is to post that single reply at the bottom.
> >
> >Inline reply is an absolute must when an email is long and you have to
> >reply to multiple parts of it.  I agree that a lot of people either don't
> >understand this, or are too lazy to do it.  I think it's bad netiquette
> >to always top post, I just think that an increasingly larger percentage
> >of people have no concept of netiquette.
> >
> >  
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> wplug mailing list
> wplug at wplug.org
> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
> 


-- 
Tom Rhodes


More information about the wplug mailing list