... why top-posting should be avoided... (was Re: Broken mail readers (was Re: Properly wiping a hard drive ?))

[Sam Sharpe]

On 10 October 2010 21:31, JD <jd1008 at gmail.com> wrote:
>  On 10/10/2010 01:22 PM, Sam Sharpe wrote:
>> You forgot to mention why top-posting should be avoided...
>>
>> --
>> Sam
>>
>> On 10 October 2010 21:01, Tim<ignored_mailbox at yahoo.com.au>  wrote:
>>> On Sun, 2010-10-10 at 09:02 -0500, Matthew J. Roth wrote:
>>>> I'd really appreciate it if anyone could explain why these things are
>>>> happening and how I could configure the Zimbra Web Client to fix them.
>>> You probably can't fix the threading problems, those things sound more
>>> like faults, or badly designed software which simply doesn't do
>>> everything that it should do with email.  But the long line issue may be
>>> a configuration option.  All the things you brought up are mentioned
>>> below.
>>>
>>> Threading - Mail clients insert a header, as they reply to a message,
>>> that indicate which message you're replying to (the in-reply-to header
>>> will be followed by its message id).  And add the same message id to a
<snip>
>>> users mailing list
>>> users at lists.fedoraproject.org
>>> To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
>>> https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users
>>> Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> Perhaps the list server, when sending a final confirmation of subscription,
> should include this reminder (I am sure there are other reminders that
> everyone can think of). But this particular one has definitely caused many
> reply posts asking the OP to not top post.

Does it not send the list guidelines when you subscribe?

It's been a long while since I subscribed, but I vaguely remember it
happening. I'm not entirely sure whether a confirmation email stating
the guidelines is any more powerful than the fact every message states
that top posting is "highly unwanted"
(http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines#Proper_posting_style)
- people will still ignore it.

FWIW, I  seem to manage to flip quite happily between top posting (at
work, Outlook, it's expected) and bottom posting (on this list and a
few others) according to local custom. I just don't get why other
people don't get it.

--
Sam