[kwlug disc.] Top/Bottom posting

[Joe]

Chris Bruner wrote:
> I agree, but the difficulty is determining what is the most convenient 
> for a group, and what etiquette is.  To me top posting is honestly 
> easier to understand then bottom posting. It's a stack.   I just 
> assumed that it made little if any difference to people.
> In deference to the defacto standard that has been pointed out to me 
> I'm bottom posting from now on. (I also don't want to miss out on 
> Robert Day's help in the future :)
>
> Chris
>> e.g.
>> I really like spicy food, but if I invite people over,
>> I prepare something "neutral" that most people would like.
Shouldn't there be an etiquette page when you sign up for the mailing 
list? I never realized top vs bottom posting was such an emotional topic 
for some people that they would consider not replying to mails that 
weren't in the format they want. I understood plain text was important 
to some people but this is the first time I've encountered such a 
lengthy heated debate on the 'proper' way to format an email. It never 
made any difference to me since my mail client makes quotes collapsable 
anyways. Are console based mail clients so basic that they just display 
basic plain text in the way they were received? I suppose the world 
shouldn't permitted to use mailing lists and progress to different ways 
of thinking because an esoteric minority are set on their ways? I 
understand that complying with etiquette prescribed by a majority 
membership is important in order to not offend it's members however when 
I signed up to this list I didn't see such guidelines.

John Van Ostrand wrote:
> And many people avoid bringing it to people's attention. Just how do you
> tell someone that they've got spinach in their teeth. Usually you find a
> subtle way. Unfortunately here it was an announcement. Ahem, can I have
> the room's attention? Chris: you have an annoying piece of spinach in
> your teeth. I don't think anyone intends to be mean. The public nature
> of lists can sometimes be hazardous to one's ego.
Sure, it's important to let the person know if someone is doing 
something annoying but I agree with Chris that the way it was brought to 
his attention was both harsh and inappropriate given that this is a 
public list. To publicly proclaim "Chris you've got spinach in your 
teeth and I am only going to explain this once, at which point i'm going 
to implement a new policy -- i'm not going to respond to anyone who has 
spinach in their teeth again. ever." 

There's an appropriate way to deal with people and a childish way of 
dealing with people. I'm not debating that top or bottom posting is or 
isn't appropriate but that the way in which you bring a topic to the 
attention of someone who is misinformed should be handled appropriately. 
Chris could've been sent a direct message describing his formatting 
issue and then a public notice could've been sent out to everyone on the 
list notifying them of proper mail list etiquette that is expected to be 
followed to make specific individuals happy. I don't want to miss out on 
Robert Day's help either but I wasn't annoyed or see anything wrong with 
the formatting of Chris' post. So now that it would appear the consensus 
is people are willing to conform to bottom posting, can we add this to 
signup page for the mail list to avoid future drama's and move on to 
more productive topics?

~Joe