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From: ABCGi <abcgi@codemonkey.com.au>
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Mic Barendsz <mic@dataweb.nl> wrote in news:BB02D6BA.4DF9%mic@dataweb.nl:

> http://asciipr0n.com/fp/linux/top-posting.txt

Grammar Checked;

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
top-posters will inherit the earth
		    -- robert w hall In: alt.os.linux.slackware

Eventually it happens to all of us.  You are reading the replies to
your messages on a mailing list or in a newsgroup and you see those
dreadful words:  "Don't top post"

If you are lucky they included a link to this text so you could answer
that question in the back of your brain "what the heck do they mean by
this?".  Well I am glad you asked.  

Up until today your replies have looked something like this:

 	 From: Me
	 Re: World Domination


  	 Me too!
	 I hate that stuff.
 
         You said:
	 > I don't like tofu.
	 > But I love cheese

Now this is how it should have looked:

 	 From: Me
	 Re: World Domination

         You said:
	 > I don't like tofu.

  	 Me too!

	 > But I love cheese

	 I hate that stuff.
 
No you are asking yourself: Self, why do they care?  What difference
does it make?

Well for one thing the world can now tell what you are talking about
with a much better sense of context.  There is no confusion as to what
you are saying and you are less likely to piss people off accidently.
Because we all know that if you are going to piss someone off you
should do it deliberately. 

Here are some of the popular reasons for making sure you don't
top post.

1) It is a standard.

   While that may sound like the stupidest reason in the world to you
   right now you will have to accept that standards do count for
   something and that if you don't give credit to those standards then
   people who do won't give credit to you.

2) A: Because it upsets the natural flow of reading.
   Q: Why is top posting so rude?
	  -- Springfield In: alt.os.linux.slackware

   You and the person you are replying to may know what you are
   talking about but some Joe who has just joined the conversation may
   not.  And without proper inline posting he won't know from the
   context of the conversation what it is you are agreeing to.

3) It is often noted that because of the way the Usenet propagates
   that a reply might arrive before the original.  Which makes it nigh
   impossible to figure out what is going on without a cleanly marked
   form of quoting and replying.  

There are many other reasons but those are really the only ones that
you need to know.  Everything else is just a waste of time compared to
those three.

Now you may state something foolish like:
"Why should I have to skip past things that have already been written
to see the new text?"

Well that is simply answered in two parts.  

1)  You don't have to.
    If you are using an intelligently designed application to read
    these posts then there is a feature or a key explained in the help
    feature that explains how you can toggle off or on the quoted
    material.  No more excuses.

2)  Because its not about you.
    You may know what you are responding to but 50,000 other people have
    no idea.  Sometimes you just have to look beyond yourself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
                 http://users.bigpond.net.au/abcgi 

 "Life is mostly froth and bubble,  Two things stand like stone,
  Kindness in another's trouble,    And courage in your own." - ALG