On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 07:57:31 -0430 Patrick O'Callaghan <pocallaghan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I like the unconscious irony of "if the context is clear". The *only* > justification for top-posting is to be able to include the entire > history of the thread in such a way as not to force the reader to deal > with it. IOW it was introduced years ago for people who didn't > understand mailing lists, threading, or archiving, i.e. the business > community who had just "discovered" email. While that may have been > useful for a commercial interchange with maybe a couple of CC's, it's > completely inappropriate for a large mailing list. I think you've hit the nail on the head here. When I work in the corporate world, everything is top posting. And it makes sense there, where it is not a mailing list. A few people are basically holding a chat via email, and all are mostly familiar with the topic being discussed and its state. There is never any trimming, sort of as a paper trail and as a CYA. When clarification of previous discussion is needed, the last message has everything up to that point so it is easy to do the research. When I work there, I behave as the natives, top posting, no trimming. When in Rome and all that. But that isn't appropriate for a mailing list where you are soliciting help from other people who might not have any previous exposure to your issue. It's very jarring to read a message and not even understand the context of what is said. I tend to just ignore such messages. If they can't take the trouble to frame their request properly, I can't take the trouble to investigate. I think of it in terms of culture or custom. In certain cultures it is considered the height of good manners to eat with your fingers, slurp and chew noisily, and belch after the meal. In others, not so much. The adaptive person matches the culture they are in. -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
