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Why is top-posting still something to avoid? It took me a while to get used to it, but at this point I consider the war to be won in favour of top-posting, due

• stonogo 12y ago
  Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. > Why is top-posting still something to avoid? Gmail "embraced" it because their editor started out as a textarea and they had no choice. It's a consequence of their programming environment and not some kind of aesthetic choice they carefully considered.
  • nvader 12y ago
    With respect to emails, where the history of the correspondence is well-known to all participants, isn't it actually more convenient to have the new material up first? The chain of previous letters becomes an appendix that can be referred to if needed, but does not sit in the way of the immediate communication. I think in some ways this mimics how snail-mail correspondence works too: you always attach the new message on top, and context can go afterwards, or be referred to by correspondents. Although, the real shame is that this is a problem at all, given how easy it would be for clients to detect diffs and provide the comment in the way the user wants it.