Ambiguity through inappropriate message layout (was: A valid reason for top posting? (GPRS data costs))

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

[reordered]

On Saturday, 16 September 2006 at 11:39:28 +1000, Michael Cohen wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 16, 2006 at 07:15:04AM +0930, Rod Whitby wrote:
>>>>> Top-posting "This term is generally used pejoratively with the
>>>>> implication that the offending person is a newbie, a Microsoft
>>>>> addict (Microsoft mail tools produce a similar format by default),
>>>>> or simply a common-and-garden-variety idiot." - Eric Raymond
>
> I for one concurr with this.

So why do you put your reply in a logically wrong place?

>> If you set your email client to only download the first 250 bytes of
>> each message (so you can tell whether you should pay the extra money to
>> download the rest of the message), then top-posting is very attractive
>> (especially when people bottom-post without editing the quoted text).

Of course, maybe you concur with this statement instead.  But how can
anybody tell if you separate your statement from the one with which
you agree?

Also, if it's the second, why have you included  the following junk?
It just adds to the download cost.

>> Having just spent two weeks on business in France, with my only email
>> link being GPRS (at 1c per Kb), there is one other reason that someone
>> may prefer that others use top-posting:
>>
>>
>> Eric Raymond, who comes from a country with flat-fee mobile data costs,
>> probably hasn't encountered this other valid reason for someone (who is
>> not a newbie, nor a Microsoft addict, nor an idiot) to prefer top-posting.
>
> Anyway most mail clients nowadays (even mutt) sort
> messages by thread, and in reality I already know what the bottom of the
> message says because I just read the message above. To me bottom pasting is an
> annoying habbit - even if Eric Raymond says not. It leads to a lot of
> replication of the same message text.
>
> </duck>
> Michael.
>

>
>> -- Rod
>> --
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Greg
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