I think it might be best to let this topic die. The original question did not seem to be an attempt to start a debate but rather to hear why experienced users dislike "top posting." I think I gave such reasons in my initial reply, so there's no longer a question that needs to be answered.
This is now likely a pointless debate, but I'd like to respond to a few points anyway. Stop reading here if the debate bores you, and please accept my apologies if you consider this to be off-topic. --- Robert Cummings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've never understood why you can't just let people post how they > prefer unmolested. The first few responses were answering a question that was asked, not "molesting" anyone. > Top posting doesn't make you lazy, it is a preference that many > people choose to exert This is like arguing that people choose to use IE instead of Firefox. Surely the flaws of this argument are obvious. For people who bother to make a choice, Firefox is a clear winner. The same is true for formatted email. People (who care) tend to agree on a few major points and only disagree on minor details, such as line length and methods of attribution. Those of us who handle several hundred emails a day appreciate it when those who send them take the time to format them properly. In fact, I bet most people would not mind whether you arrange your emails to be read from top to bottom or bottom to top as long as you put forth a sincere effort to format the email nicely so that it is easy to read. It just happens to be that most English speakers are used to reading from top to bottom, so that is why this is preferred. The only reason I ever bother to speak on this topic in public is for the benefit of those who care enough to want to format their emails properly. A formatted email is much easier for me to read as I go through hundreds a day, and thus I'm more likely to answer the question(s) therein. Many, many other question answerers feel the same way, so those who extend this courtesy on a mailing list such as this are more likely to have their questions answered. Others can spend their time arguing about it. :-) Chris ===== Chris Shiflett - http://shiflett.org/ PHP Security - O'Reilly Coming December 2004 HTTP Developer's Handbook - Sams http://httphandbook.org/ PHP Community Site http://phpcommunity.org/ -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
