A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and mailing lists?
#2 is zero trimming: On 2013-10-09 12:59 (GMT-0400) Chris Rockwell composed: ...
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The above quote from Chris Rockwell is typical of top-posters, unusual from bottom posters and interleavers. Absent list mail footers being discussed (as here), quoting them is never appropriate. Quoting footers is lazy, disrespectful aka wasteful, and typically contrary to list policy.
On 2013-10-09 12:59 (GMT-0400) Chris Rockwell composed:
I reply at the top because I feel it is easier to read, not only during the conversation, but in the archived format. It is not user friendly, in my opinion, to do a google search for a question and, upon finding an archived list response, having to scroll down through a quoted reply to find the response
On the contrary, when I find an archive post via search I expect to scroll as much as necessary to find the searched item in logical contextual order. Finding the searched words near the top and then having to hunt for context is anything but friendly.
On 2013-10-09 17:23 (GMT+0100) Philip Taylor composed:
A top-poster assumes that his audience has the intelligence to remember what has gone before;
Eidetic memory is the exception. I for one do not have it.
a bottom-poster assumes they have the memory of a gnat,
A bottom poster properly assumes that what he is writing is not and has not been the only thing the reader has read or will read, and makes no assumption about when it will be read.
Top posting and interleaving provide context in logical sequence, whether for reading separated by mere minutes, or days, weeks or months.
and forces the reader to wade through endless recycled messages
Lazy people complain about scrolling. Scrolling is not poison. It won't starve you or force you to hunt down extra calories to compensate for the required finger motion to reach the bottom. The second or two or less it takes won't cost you money.
(frequently nested ten levels deep) before finally reaching the only part of interest which is the respondent's personal contribution to the thread.
Ten levels deep is an abhorrent result of absence of trimming. Justification for lack of trimming ever is at best tenuous.
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