Re: Top posting vs. bottom posting

Nope. I just wish people could adhere to good, common standards for communication. If everybody did this the same way (like we all did on USENET back in the early days), reading these groups would be much easier and more efficient.

Most people are stupid. There's an important distinction between ignorance and stupidity, you see. If you do something in a way that's wrong, or sub-optimal, or at odds with existing conventions, because you didn't know better, then your behaviour is caused by ignorance. I don't have a problem with that. If, however, you do know that there is a correct/efficient/conventional way to do it, and you refuse to do so anyway, out of some sort of stubborn "nobody tells ME what to do" attitude, then your behaviour is caused by stupidity. I do have a problem with that.

Paul is a good example of someone exhibiting stupid behaviour. I'm sure that he's intelligent enough to see the difference, and I know that he's had it explained to him -- and yet, he claims to prefer the situation at hand, where every posting is in a style of its own, and you have to start the reading of each one by trying to figure out what is quotations, and what is new text. You have no idea what order things will be in, you have no idea what will be indented, and what won't -- you just have to start digging.

You're quite right. Things started to fall apart about 10 years ago. Before that, we had a new bunch of students getting on the net every September, and quite a few of them had to be told off for breaking convention. In October, things would quiet down again. Then, all the "regular people" discovered the Internet, and it's been September ever since. ;-)

Anyway, I'm outta here. I have only a limited time at my disposal, and this group now offers less valuable content than the hassle of reading it is worth. (Not just because of the posting style hell, of course. The political quarrels, the anti-AMA rants, the "let's all beat up on Horrace Cain" threads, &c ad infinitum, certainly don't help. But the worst bit is that a thread that actually looks interesting nearly always is too time-consuming and hard to read.)

-tih

Thank you. (I think this is a bottom post.) The clue was your remark about Outlook's behavior.

-- Mike

-- Mike

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You're correct. And, as you can see, some folks are very passionate about what's proper and what's not when replying to posts. I really don't care if people post replies top, bottom, or in the body of the message. If the topic is interesting to me, I'll read it regardless of the format. If I reply, and am not the first reply, I "usually" follow the style that the last reply used.

Carrell