[OS X TeX] Re: [OS X TeX]

[Gary L. Gray]

On Dec 11, 2006, at 8:26 PM, Alex Scorpan wrote:

> Bottom-posting sucks.
>
> It forces you to spend a lot more time scanning the (at least) 20  
> or so messages you gets from the list daily, because you have to  
> scroll to the bottom of each message to get a glimpse whether the  
> message adds anything of interest to you or not.  Often you have to  
> scroll through several pages of one message to read one line of new  
> content.
>
> After all, you are reading the subject lines and following down the  
> threads---you can survive having the reminder on the bottom.
>
> Alex
>
>
>
>> I have yet to see decisive arguments for bottom-posting. The  
>> following should not be construed as an attempt to provide a  
>> decisive argument in favor of top posting; but it is an argument  
>> against bottom-posting.
>>
>> If one is following a thread, one might have in mind the preceding  
>> messages in the conversation. In such a case the repetition of the  
>> previous message(s) at the top --- especially in the fourth  
>> message in a thread --- could conceivably be inefficient for the  
>> reader. One might think of a top-posted message as one that puts  
>> the news first and provides a reminder of the conversation as a  
>> sequence of nested footnotes, as it were. A conscientious top  
>> poster might consider starting his/her post by summarizing the  
>> argument so far, or at least use an introductory topic sentence,  
>> and perhaps consider avoiding indexical references to previous  
>> posts (e.g., "this argument" rather than "the argument that ... ").
>> _____________________________
>> Professor Michael Kubovy


In the "List Reminders & Etiquette" page (see the end of this  
message) I am not advocating "bottom posting" or "top posting". Both  
should be used when appropriate. More importantly, the text of a post  
should often (usually?) be interspersed with the text that is being  
quoted so that the reader knows to what the writer is responding.

All the best,
   Gary


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