On Fri, 11 Dec 2015 19:26:50 +0100
Edward Bartolo <edbarx@???> wrote:

> Hi Svante,
>
> I think, it is irritating to first having to scroll down text others
> have written rather than the text the latest poster has written. If
> the latest poster wants his readers to refer to ealier posts, he can
> state that in his reply.
>
> I don't consider this netiquitte, but rather, a writing style which
> shouldn't be binding to anyone. This should be optional like any
> personal preference.
>
> Edward


Hi Edward,

OK, let's analyze writing styles.

The first thing to agree on (or not), is that a mailing list is
intended to be a mind-meld of lots of different brains so that the
whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Without such basic
agreement, we might as well default to "reply to poster". And of
course, 90% of us would find a different mailing list, where the whole
*did* exceed the sum of the parts.

So now that our mailing list is intended to be a mind meld, we need
clarity. Saying "you're right" immediately below the last person's
assertion is crystal clear. Saying "you're right" in a top post is a
no-op. To retain any meaning, in a long thread with lots of people, in
your top-post you'd need to say "John Skokapodia is right when he says
that C can interface with hardware." The top-poster has a
responsibility to say all that: Otherwise the top-poster is simply an
obfuscator. It's a lot of work, and if you think it's too much work,
there's an alternative: Interleave post.

But wait: There's more. Even if one top-posts well (which few do),
top-posting wrecks all hope for any future bottom or interleave
posting, unless somebody does what Irrwan has done and rearranges the
thread (And Irrwan, I really appreciated that). Bottom posting and
interleave posting are compatible with each other, and incompatible with
top-posting. Top posting is compatible with nothing but top-posting.

There's a special place in hell for the guy who replies to a
well-interleaved post with a top post, thus guaranteeing that all
descendant posts will be difficult to understand.

Before continuing, let me repeat that the goal here is CLARITY! We all
have much too much to do to try to logic out ambiguities in peoples'
emails.

Militant top-posters regularly trot out three excuses:

1) I don't want to scroll down
2) Professional communication is top posted
3) My email client won't let me bottom post


### I DON'T WANT TO SCROLL DOWN ###
If the bottom and interleave posters who preceded you did their job
well, you don't have to scroll very much. Just like there's a special
place in hell for people who wreck a long, functioning
bottom/interleave posted discussion with a top post, there's a special
place in hell for the guy who doesn't bother to remove all quoted
context irrelevant to his reply. All you bottom posters who don't trim
your quoted context, please be aware that you're justifying
top-posting. There are special rooms in the devils mansion for
interleave posters who leave old context *below* their sigs. WTF?

The preceding paragraph not withstanding, top-posting is not the
answer: It precludes clear communication, and rather than making a
right, the second wrong just makes things worse.


### PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IS TOP POSTED ###
This is absolutely true, and if one of you were communicating with me
about licensing Troubleshooters.Com courseware, you'd top post me, I'd
top post you, and we'd have a continuous running log of who said what,
and that's called CYA. In business, CYA is more important than the
mind-meld achieved by multiple brains thinking. But on a mailing list,
just the opposite is true.


### MY EMAIL CLIENT WON'T LET ME BOTTOM POST ###
I've already described why top-posting is harmful to growing the
discussion so that the whole of our brains exceeds the sum of each
brain. Please don't inconvenience several hundred people to make your
posting more convenient. If your device, email client or webmail
automatically top posts and doesn't have cut and paste, please post to
mailing lists with a different device, email client or webmail. A well
functioning email discussion is like a nuclear reaction: Don't throw a
bunch of lead rods into the reaction by top-posting.


### SUMMARY ###
And once again, let me summarize: On mailing lists, the priority is
*clarity*, which is best achieved with interleave-posting. Bottom
posting is compatible with interleave posting: Top posting is not, and
throws all descendants of the top-posted reply into logical disarray.

I'm copying my reply to another list where this subject has been
discussed.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
November 2015 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques
     of the Successful Technologist
http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques