[ubuntu-uk] Rules

[alan c]

James Dalley wrote:
> Hiya,
> 
> I know there was talk about a monthly info email of how to post, so here is my bug bear:
> Top Posting, I know it's sad about arguing how to argue or the like, but when people top post it's like saying hear me first
> then see whats gone on before. May be sad to some people but I like to follow a thread chronologically rather than any which way but loose.

Some thoughts:

I guess you are used to discussion lists with technical detail. Inline 
comments are unworkable with top posting.  Inline commenting is also 
very common in lists with detail technical discussions.

If there is no inline commenting, a sequence of messages can be made 
sense of if it is consistent - all bottom posting or all top posting. 
However, on many occasions the earlier messages are hardly relevant, 
although a snip of irrelevant material is :-)   That is not a top or 
bottom posting issue though.

Logically, it is easier to make a case for bottom posting from reading 
from top to bottom on a page. However, when a message is opened up and 
shows the topmost (oldest) paragraph, it can be tiresome to always 
have to scroll down a long way to the most recent (single line?) 
statement. I do not make a case for right or wrong here, just 
different situations.

Where someone has a commitment to know the whole story and quickly 
too, such as in technical support situation, it is essential for 
efficiency and clarity that snips are minimal or not used, and that a 
convention is complied with (bottom posting usually).

On social oriented lists the value of the moment is key, not the 
detail, the current moment that is, and what has gone before is 
usually (almost) ignored. So top posting works for that, and only the 
top paragraph is ever seen! I find I use this approach myself for most 
of my private correspondence. It was also conventional in a business 
situation in the large water company I used to work in. Each message 
or letter stood alone, with previous stuff at the bottom. Pretty 
rigorous top posting, that.

I believe that people who are used to taking part in technical 
detailed discussions will expect to use bottom posting for its value, 
and also, because of (their) convention and habit, even if, on 
occasions, it is not so useful.

In a list such as this one, if there is some top posting, I read this 
as indicating that Ubuntu use has 'escaped' into the wild, and is 
being used by those who do not make use of (many) technical discussion 
lists. An indication of success!

This is a pleasant, welcoming and very useful list. Although it may be 
that list rules ask somewhere for bottom posting, I do hope that we 
can be as patient and understanding as possible with transgressions?
-- 
alan cocks
Kubuntu user#10391