Re: [Pan-users] Top-posting (was Re: compile error on Natty Ubuntu)

[Duncan]

Joe Zeff posted on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:09:45 -0700 as excerpted:

> On 06/15/2011 10:10 AM, Ron Johnson wrote:
>> I see that you are one of the 3 who use the non-web interface.  Yay!
>>
>>
> No.  Please note that this isn't coming from my gmail account.  When I
> do reply to an email via gmail, I simply move the cursor down below the
> quoted text to where it belongs before starting to type.  And, unlike
> most people, I proofread and edit my email before sending it.

Back when I used OE, I took advantage of the cursor at the top to 
encourage proper inline quote/reply, instead of having the huge block of 
uninterrupted quote at the top, followed by the reply.  It's worth noting 
that such a huge block isn't considered useful or polite either, in most 
contexts, the general rule of thumb being that if one can't see some 
reply somewhere in a reasonable sized window at all times (meaning the 
quote block is larger than the window size), the quote is too big.  It 
should either be replied to point-by-point inline, or edited to cover 
just that point being replied to, or in rare cases, summarized as a few 
sentences (denoted in braces [] to indicate that it's a summary not a 
direct quote) describing the context of the larger quote in which the 
reply is to be taken.

The cursor at the top can thus be viewed as an encouragement to proper 
context quote/replies instead of leaving the huge block of quoted text at 
the beginning, since one is then more aware of the size of the block, as 
one has to move down thru it to get to where the reply should properly be.

One noted exception to the "no huge quote blocks" rule is certain 
technical messages, quoting compiler output or the like, where verbatim 
quoting of the machine output may be necessary to retain the proper 
content of the error.  There are others, but they should remain the 
exception that only accentuates the general rule.

IMHO of course, tho a rather experienced opinion with nearly a decade and 
a half averaging hours a day on various newsgroups and lists,

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman