[OT] Why do people detest top posting so much?

[Michael Haney]

Being new to the community of Linux users and having seen what people
on the outside think of us I can sadly say that this sort of thing
only serves to perpetuate the mystic people outside the Linux
community believe.  That mystic is that we're fanatical fanboys/girls
with really short tempers who fly off on a hissy fit at the slightest
provocation and have no tolerance for whatsoever for noobs.  Indeed,
there are people, even here, who are like that, but its not something
that's exclusive to the Linux world.  Being deeply involved in the
anime community I can tell you there are people like that there also,
but because there is so much animosity between diehard Windows and
Linux supporters our community is put under the microscope so to speak
more so than the anime community ever is.  In other words, when a few
bad apples cause trouble it makes all of us look bad.

So bad attitudes towards people top posting rather than bottom posting
or sarcastic replies to newbie questions or people who post in HTML
only serves to prove what the Windows fanatics say about us.  It sheds
the Linux Community in a bad light, and those of us who aren't like
that shouldn't tolerate it and allow a few bad apples to ruin our
reputation.  Linux has come a long way since Linus shared the source
code for the first kernel online all those years ago.  It grew from a
hobbyist only OS, the domain exclusive to Nerds, to become a major
contender against Microsoft's monopoly and suitable for anyone to use.
 We need to present the Linux Community in a positive light, and to do
that we need to put a leash on those who might tarnish our good name.

I mean, why would people want to try Linux if its user community whom
they might turn to for technical help and questions is hostile towards
newbies?  Think about it.

The Linux Community, especially the Ubuntu User Community needs to
start policing itself and punish those who are chronic troublemakers.

-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch at gmail.com
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