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Rockbox mail archiveSubject: RE: Please explain!RE: Please explain!
From: Christopher Woods <christof_at_infinitus.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 08:59:02 +0100 > -----Original Message----- > From: rockbox-bounces_at_cool.haxx.se > [mailto:rockbox-bounces_at_cool.haxx.se] On Behalf Of Paul Louden > Sent: 26 August 2007 06:31 > To: Rockbox > Subject: Re: Please explain! > > <snipped> Gosh, everybody stop being so petty about this. I got into an argument exactly like this before, and even had one of the list admins adding his 2p worth, and it was after that I realised it's just such a small-minded, anal thing to be getting aggravated about. Top-posting is from the days of BBSes; email lists are an entirely different matter yet there is a distinct line between the technical people who've been using one form or another of list for decade or more, and the people who are just general day-to-day users. I was having a discussion about top-versus-bottom posting with my Dad the other day (who's 54 and was daisychaining his way across servers in his Uni lab in the 1970s just for the hell of it whilst some of you probably weren't even born) and even he agrees that top-posting is the most economical and logical way of utilising and participating in email lists. Frankly, I think my Dad's a sensible person, and I hold his opinion in high regard, that satisfies me perfectly. To watch this squabble repeat itself time and again on here detracts greatly from the overall value of this list and the vast amount of knowledgeable people who both lurk and participate. I'll adhere to the bottom-posting rules if I participate in this list for two reasons: 1) I don't want to start another moebius-strip argument and 2) I can't be bothered with the 'tunnel vision' style of 'obey or leave'. For a list with as many potential newbies who I suggest don't really give a flying barrel of monkeys whether they top- or bottom-post to ask a question or reply to a thread, it's really frustrating whenever I see this kind of thing happen, and I imagine it is for them too. Why bother? Life's too short. This is a good list and I've learnt a lot from it, but please... Can everybody really have *that* much of a valid reason for arguing about whether people top- or bottom-post? If your email client isn't clever enough to just display the messages in a threaded view on its own, get a better one. Outlook and Thunderbird perform this function perfectly well regardless of whether you top- or bottom-post (and I would argue that top-posting is actually more beneficial for threaded discussion views because you don't have to endlessly scroll to read replies in context, and although I'm sure my idea has its detractors, that's my related 2p on this, and nobody else on any of the other lists I participate in seem to mind, in fact they do it themselves!) If the listadmins and the more geeky (used in the nicest possible way, I call myself a geek) people insist on fascist compliance with the bottom-posting rule, may I suggest that all new subscribers are sent a mandatory email outlining in bold, plain English the absolute requirement to not top-post, and if they wish to do so more than once or twice can they kindly piss off to their luser workspace? Because that's how I perceive the attitude on here sometimes. The bofh lives... Christopher Received on 2007-08-26 Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy |