https://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/WhyTopPostingHasWon.html?ye25hn Why Top Posting Has Won Recent changes Links to this page Table of contents FRONT PAGE / INDEX --------------------------------------------------------------------- [feed-icon3]Subscribe! Why Top Posting Has Won - 2018/06/13 @ColinTheMathmo ----------------------------- I've recently realised that, in my head, My latest posts can be found there's a connection between top-posting here: in email and washing the dishes. Stay with me, I'll see if I can make the * Colins Blog connection for you. ----------------------------- One of the things that confused and Previous blog posts: annoyed me as I was growing up was that proverbs contradicted each other. So for * Unexpected Interaction Of example we have "Look before you leap", Features but we also have "He who hesitates is * Archimedes Hat Box lost." We have "Absence makes the heart Theorem grow fonder", but we also have "Out of * Considering A Sphere sight, out of mind". * To Link Or Not To Link * Generic Advice For And so on. So frustrating. Writing A Thesis * Just Teach My Child The It wasn't until some years later that I Maths realised that proverbs aren't in fact * Not A Spectator Sport intended to capture and express * Left Truncatable Prime universal truths. Proverbs are a neat, * The Doctor And The Lawyer slick, and easy way of expressing those * Four Points Two Distances thoughts you already have. Proverbs are Proof a way of avoiding work while still * Meeting Ron Graham communicating your thoughts. * Napkin Ring Versus Spherical Cap But part of the problem I then see with * The Four Points Puzzle proverbs is that they can act as * Radius Of The Earth Part "thought terminating cliches". You trot Two out the proverb, and then no one has to * Grep Timing Anomaly think any more. Everything is done, * The Radius Of The Earth dusted, complete, clear, and finished. * This Works To Cure My They come as self-contained little Hiccoughs nuggets that are left unexamined and * Perhaps We Saved One unchallenged. Whereas often they should * Thinking About Mastodon be used as a starting point for further * Disappearing Trains On discussion. Virgin * The Independence Game So, for example, I remember putting off * One Of My Favourite a particular task and I was admonished Puzzles with "A stitch in time saves nine." * Thinking About Recursion Never mind that I didn't actually * Memorising The Tube understand what they were trying to * Spikey Spheres communicate, it turns out that while * Surprisingly Quick this piece of wisdom seems unassailable, * An Unexpected Fraction it's not necessarily right. * You Have To Admire Their Optimism To see that, let's start by looking at * Representatives Matter what it is actually trying to say. You * Pythagoras By Incircle have a garment, and a seam has popped, * A Puzzle About Puzzles or is starting to fray. There's a danger * How Not To Do Twitter that it will unravel, and then fixing it * Calculating 52 Factorial could take significantly greater effort. By Hand So the idea is that if you attend to it * Small Things Might Not Be now you can forestall that and save So Small yourself potentially large amounts of * Not If You Hurry work. A single stitch now (although * Factoring Via Graph Three obviously it might actually be more than Colouring one stitch) can save having to do many * Another Proof Of The stitches later. A stitch now avoids many Doodle Theorem stitches later. Hence a stitch in time * When Obvious Is Not saves nine. Obvious * Graph Three Colouring But actually the garment might not * The Doodle Theorem unravel, and by doing the work now you * Be Careful What You Say are losing the opportunity to do other * The Mutilated Chessboard things that might potentially be more Revisited valuable, or more rewarding. So it's not * A Mirror Copied a foregone conclusion that this is the * The Other Other Rope right thing to be doing, even though the Around The Earth proverb closes down all discussion. * Photocopy A Mirror * The Point Of The Banach And human nature being what it is, we Tarski Theorem will always tend to put off unpleasant, * Sieve Of Eratosthenes In uninteresting, or unrewarding tasks, Python even on those occasions when they will * Fast Perrin Test save the total time and work expended * Russian Peasant overall. So even though leaving the Multiplication dishes results in more work because the * FindingPerrinPseudoPrimes food ends up dried on, there's still a Part2 tendency to leave the washing up to * FindingPerrinPseudoPrimes later. Of course in that case there Part1 really is no advantage to postponement, * The Unwise Update because the work will have to be done, * Miles Per Gallon but in other cases the work might become * Tracking An Item On irrelevant or otherwise unnecessary, so Hacker News postponement can actually make sense. * Hacker News User Ages * Poking The Dusty Corners With me so far? * There Is No Time For This * Publically Sharing Links "Yes" you reply, "But what's the * Learning Times Tables connection with top-posting?" * Graceful Degradation * Diagramming Maths Topics Top posting is where you reply to an * On The Rack email by putting your comment at the * Square Root By Long top, and leaving the entire email - Division possibly an entire thread - below and * Beyond The Boundary intact. To do so is quick, simple, and * Fill In The Gaps easy for you, the sender. And when the * Software Checklist thread is short, possibly just a single * NASA Space Crews email, it's easy for the receiver to see * The Birthday Paradox the context, and to know to what you are * The Trapezium Conundrum replying. * Revisiting The Ant * The Ant And The Rubber But when the thread is long, and when Band your reply is to a point deeper inside, * Irrationals Exist suddenly the receiver has to do a lot of * Multiple Choice work. You, the sender, have saved Probability Puzzle yourself time, but the receiver has to * Random Eratosthenes do more work than you have saved. * Wrapping Up Square Potentially a lot more work. Dissection * Dissecting A Square Part So top-posting makes sense while the 2 thread is short, but ceases to make * Dissecting A Circle sense when the discussion grows and * Dissecting A Square becomes complex. The problem is that * An Oddity In Tennis that's exactly when the thread needs to * Decision Tree For Tennis be distilled, and replies need to be * Decision Trees In Games made in place, to make it clear what you * A Matter Of Convention are commenting on, or replying to. * Do You Nourish Or Tarnish * Binary Search But by the time the thread has grown to Reconsidered a point where this becomes effectively * Two Equals Four essential, it's too late. Without * The Lost Property Office putting in the effort all the way * The Forgiving User through, it's impossible to recover the Interface situation, and even more time is spent * Setting Up RSS trying to understand the thread, to * Withdrawing From Hacker untangle the points, and to find News meaning. ----------------------------- So top-posting is a form of Additionally, some earlier procrastination. It's a method whereby writings: the sender avoids doing any work in the hope that no work will be needed. And to * Random Writings. be fair, often it isn't. But sometimes * Colins Blog 2010 it is, and in those cases I curse * Colins Blog 2009 top-posting, and desperately wish that * Colins Blog 2008 the earlier internet norm of in-line * Colins Blog 2007 posting was still prevalent. * Colins Blog Before 2007 But that won't happen. It's too late. Some email clients make it nearly impossible to use in-line replies, and people just won't do it. People won't do work unless it's rewarding, or compulsory. Human nature tells us that top-posting will always win unless some form of in-line posting becomes (a) painless, (b) compulsory, and (c) rewarding. I'm working on that. ---------------------------------------- You can read more about posting styles here: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Posting_style ---------------------------------------- +--------------------------------------+ | <<<< Prev <<<< | | >>>> Next | | ----------------- | | >>>> | | Unexpected | : | ------------ | | Interaction Of | | Another Pay | | Features | | Pal Scam ... | +--------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------- https:// You can follow me mathstodon.xyz/ on Mathstodon. @ColinTheMathmo +-----------------+ | Of course, you | | can also | | follow me on | | twitter: | | | | @ColinTheMathmo | | [CountHits] | +-----------------+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents Links on this page +------------------+ |Site hosted by | * Why Top * AMatterOfConvention |Colin and Rachel | Posting * AMirrorCopied |Wright: | Has Won * APuzzleAboutPuzzles | | - 2018/ * AnOddityInTennis | * Maths, Design,| 06/13 * AnUnexpectedFraction | Juggling, | * AnotherPayPalScam | Computing, | * AnotherProofOfTheDoodleTheorem | * Embroidery, | * ArchimedesHatBoxTheorem | Proof-reading,| * BeCarefulWhatYouSay | * and other | * BeyondTheBoundary | clever stuff. | * BinarySearchReconsidered +------------------+ * Calculating52FactorialByHand * ColinsBlog * ColinsBlog2007 * ColinsBlog2008 * ColinsBlog2009 * ColinsBlog2010 * ColinsBlogBefore2007 * ConsideringASphere * DecisionTreeForTennis * DecisionTreesInGames * DiagrammingMathsTopics * DisappearingTrainsOnVirgin * DissectingACircle * DissectingASquare * DissectingASquarePart2 * DoYouNourishOrTarnish * FactoringViaGraphThreeColouring * FastPerrinTest * FillInTheGaps * FindingPerrinPseudoPrimes_Part1 * FindingPerrinPseudoPrimes_Part2 * FourPointsTwoDistancesProof * GenericAdviceForWritingAThesis * GracefulDegradation * GraphThreeColouring * GrepTimingAnomaly * HackerNewsUserAges * HowNotToDoTwitter * IrrationalsExist * JustTeachMyChildTheMaths * LearningTimesTables * LeftTruncatablePrime * MeetingRonGraham * MemorisingTheTube * MilesPerGallon * MultipleChoiceProbabilityPuzzle * NASASpaceCrews * NapkinRingVersusSphericalCap * NotASpectatorSport * NotIfYouHurry * OnTheRack * OneOfMyFavouritePuzzles * PerhapsWeSavedOne * PhotocopyAMirror * PokingTheDustyCorners * PublicallySharingLinks * PythagorasByIncircle * RadiusOfTheEarthPartTwo * RandomEratosthenes * RandomWritings * RepresentativesMatter * RevisitingTheAnt * RussianPeasantMultiplication * SettingUpRSS * SieveOfEratosthenesInPython * SmallThingsMightNotBeSoSmall * SoftwareChecklist * SpikeySpheres * SquareRootByLongDivision * SurprisinglyQuick * TheAntAndTheRubberBand * TheBirthdayParadox * TheDoctorAndTheLawyer * TheDoodleTheorem * TheForgivingUserInterface * TheFourPointsPuzzle * TheIndependenceGame * TheLostPropertyOffice * TheMutilatedChessboardRevisited * TheOtherOtherRopeAroundTheEarth * ThePointOfTheBanachTarskiTheorem * TheRadiusOfTheEarth * TheTrapeziumConundrum * TheUnwiseUpdate * ThereIsNoTimeForThis * ThinkingAboutMastodon * ThinkingAboutRecursion * ThisWorksToCureMyHiccoughs * ToLinkOrNotToLink * TrackingAnItemOnHackerNews * TwoEqualsFour * UnexpectedInteractionOfFeatures * WhenObviousIsNotObvious * WithdrawingFromHackerNews * WrappingUpSquareDissection * YouHaveToAdmireTheirOptimism * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Posting_style --------------------------------------------------------------------- [wiki] Suggest a change ( <-- What does this mean?) / Send me email Front Page / All pages by date / Site overview / Top of page Universally Browser Friendly Quotation from Valid HTML 3.2! 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