Subject: Re: Bottom-posting etiquette   
   @VIA: NORBERTB   
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   @REPLY: <4F30CACC.1474.dove-int@digitaldistortionbbs.com>   
   Hmm...   
      
   To be honest I've never really thought about it much and have always    
   accepted that it is best to top post on emails and selectively bottom    
   post on BBS/Fido type networks. This is the first time I have ever sent    
   a top post on BBS/Fido type networks so I am ready for the flames!   
      
   My theory on why people have migrated from selective bottom posting to    
   top posting is that data transfer is now inexpensive and it is easier to    
   have a complete email trail that save loads of email messages.   
      
   At work I find it a lot easier to keep the latest version of an email    
   trial (knowing that the history is below) than try and keep 6 different    
   email messages. However I still need to check that people in the thread    
   have not chopped, edited or forked the mail history...   
      
   At work I also do something weird by combining my Outlook inbox & sent    
   items. My colleagues think I am mad but it makes a lot of sense.   
      
   I have a macro configured to automatically move new sent items messages    
   back to my inbox. I then change the inbox view to include both sender    
   and recipient name (this works well with my wide screen laptop). Thus    
   all my email threads are in one place and it makes it a lot easier to    
   manage.   
      
      
   Alex.   
      
   On 07/02/2012 06:55, Nightfox wrote:   
   > Since I started using the internet, something that I've thought was   
   interesting   
   > is peoples' attitudes toward bottom-posting vs. top-posting.  On BBSs, it has   
   > always been customary to bottom-post, and that is also encouraged by the fact   
   > that BBS email software bottom-posts by default.  This was also carried over   
   to   
   > Usenet to some extent, but other internet messaging software (email, in   
   > particular) is usually made to top-post by default.  Thus, when people reply   
   to   
   > email, they usually top-post in their replies.  And when such people go   
   posting   
   > on Usenet (and sometimes on BBSs now), they top-post there, and flame wars   
   > ensue as people get annoyed.   
   >   
   > What I find especially strange is how people often put all the blame on other   
   > people for top-posting when I think the software is partially to blame.  Many   
   > email programs&  services I've used currently and in the past (Eudora,   
   Mozilla   
   > Thunderbird, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc.) all top-post, and with some of   
   > them, I don't think there's even an option to change it so they bottom-post   
   by   
   > default.  So as many people argue with others not to top-post, many such   
   > top-posters don't realize it's bad at first because their software top-posts   
   > and they don't know any better.  Also, as some software doesn't let you   
   change   
   > how they post, it can be tiresome to bottom-post with them.  Software that   
   > top-posts by default will insert a couple of blank lines at the top of the   
   > message and leave you at the top of the message, so you have to manually   
   > removing the first 2 lines they insert at the top of the message, then   
   > scroll all the way down to the bottom of the message in order to bottom-post.   
   >   
   > Another thing that I find strange, and a bit peculiar, is that the only   
   places   
   > where it's even an issue is on BBSs and Usenet.  When using internet email   
   > outside of the BBS realm, top-posting is the norm, and people don't make a   
   fuss   
   > about it.  Also, many news web sites allow people to post comments on   
   articles,   
   > and many of them show the most recent comment first, akin to top-posting.    
   That   
   > actually bugs me a little bit because when people reply to other comments,   
   it's   
   > often hard to follow the conversations.   
   >   
   > I just find it interesting that there is a double-standard regarding   
   > top-posting and bottom-posting, where bottom-posting is the norm on BBSs and   
   > usenet, and top-posting seems to be the norm pretty much everywhere else.  I   
   > also find it interesting that people make such a fuss about it when someone   
   > does the opposite.   
   >   
   > Nightfox   
   >   
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   Cheers,   
   Alex Kemp (ajk) telnet://norbertbbs.org   
      
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