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I would say that the real performance drain is top posting, which seems to go hand in hand with HTML emails. With top posting, in order to read a mail - especi

by scbrg 7y ago

I would say that the real performance drain is top posting, which seems to go hand in hand with HTML emails. With top posting, in order to read a mail - especially one that is a few levels deep in a thread - becomes an exercise in jumping back and forth, trying to find context and make sense of who replies to what, finding relevant sentences (often hidden in a mess of signatures). With bottom posting and proper curated quoting, context is a glance away, and it's easy to see who said what in reply to what. I'm sure this would be possible with HTML mails as well, but I've never seen it happen. It's all just a mess of hard to find information in the least sensible order imaginable.

earthboundkid 7y ago
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in email?
- kilburn 7y ago
  > Q. Why is top-posting such a bad thing? It is not, so long as you first quote the relevant part you are replying to. At some point you can also trim the tail as you see fit (I don't find it necessary because my mail client does a good enogh job at hiding that part unless I click on a "show wverything" button. > 2019-07-24 10:50 earthboundkid wrote: > Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? >> 2019-07-23 23:55 someonelse wrote: >> A: Top-posting. >>> 2019-07-23 22:00 first guy wrote: >>> Q: What is the most annoying thing in email?
  - adtac 7y ago
    That's called interleaved posting and it's the preferred style: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_styl...
    - kilburn 7y ago
      I stand corrected. Technically it appears that I'm advocating for a combination of inline and top posting. Quoting the relevant wikipedia part: > The interleaved reply style can also be combined with top-posting: selected points are quoted and replied to, as above, and then a full copy of the original message is appended.
Beldin 7y ago
Top posting is orthogonal to the email's format. I've received plenty of top posts in plain text way back when. Not doing top posting literally has confused recipients of my mails (almost all instances). So now I'm a top poster as well: i use emails to communicate, not to confuse.
bitwize 7y ago
No. Always top post. This isn't 1990s USENET. The reason why is because many clients fold emails that have redundant text in them -- and may hide bottom or interleaved posts within the fold. Modern clients assume the "Outlook style" -- HTML formatted email, top posting. If you want your message to be read, use this style.
fergalish 7y ago
> proper curated quoting Indeed, it would be nice if the netizens of the world would wake up to this. Sadly, I think it's unlikely to improve any time soon and so I'll stick to top posting and threading in the email client.

by scbrg 7y ago

earthboundkid 7y ago

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in email?

kilburn 7y ago
> Q. Why is top-posting such a bad thing? It is not, so long as you first quote the relevant part you are replying to. At some point you can also trim the tail as you see fit (I don't find it necessary because my mail client does a good enogh job at hiding that part unless I click on a "show wverything" button. > 2019-07-24 10:50 earthboundkid wrote: > Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? >> 2019-07-23 23:55 someonelse wrote: >> A: Top-posting. >>> 2019-07-23 22:00 first guy wrote: >>> Q: What is the most annoying thing in email?
- adtac 7y ago
  That's called interleaved posting and it's the preferred style: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_styl...
  - kilburn 7y ago
    I stand corrected. Technically it appears that I'm advocating for a combination of inline and top posting. Quoting the relevant wikipedia part: > The interleaved reply style can also be combined with top-posting: selected points are quoted and replied to, as above, and then a full copy of the original message is appended.

Beldin 7y ago

Top posting is orthogonal to the email's format. I've received plenty of top posts in plain text way back when. Not doing top posting literally has confused recipients of my mails (almost all instances). So now I'm a top poster as well: i use emails to communicate, not to confuse.

bitwize 7y ago

No. Always top post. This isn't 1990s USENET. The reason why is because many clients fold emails that have redundant text in them -- and may hide bottom or interleaved posts within the fold. Modern clients assume the "Outlook style" -- HTML formatted email, top posting. If you want your message to be read, use this style.

fergalish 7y ago

> proper curated quoting Indeed, it would be nice if the netizens of the world would wake up to this. Sadly, I think it's unlikely to improve any time soon and so I'll stick to top posting and threading in the email client.