Replying To Posts
+1-1 = 0
I do not care about where people put their replies so long as I can figure out who is answering what. What I do not like to read is this interminable religious dogma about the ‘natural’ order of writing. This is the second or third list this week in which this B.S. has shown up in my inbox.
In written business communication, in contrast to tech-speak customarily found on mailing lists, ones answer always goes before any quoted context. Not because it has to, it is just that I have seldom, if ever, seen it done any other way. And regular business communication with non-technical folk comprises well over 75% of my daily written communication.
And while I understand the cultural motivation behind the dogma of bottom posting I remain sceptical respecting its utility. Is there any objective evidence whatsoever that top or bottom posting makes any difference to the reader’s understanding of the message? Does any rigorously determined data exist to support that contention? If not then this is simply a matter of trying to impose a set of arbitrary cultural values cloaked in the guise of technical superiority.
And do not even start on the Chevy vs. Ford debate respecting the technical superiority of Pine over Outlook. GAWD… Life its too short as it is.
2 thoughts on - Replying To Posts
If the sequence was really important, we would just move this whole list to a LinkedIn group and have a much better environment for following threads and managing the profiles of the group’s members. This is a pretty old system of managing peer support but it always takes a while to get legacy systems replaced.
Ron
This war comes up often, too often! Good manors are becoming a thing of the past and this is a sad thing in my opinion. It has been my experience that most people on this list prefer the older tried and tested method of bottom posting. Makes it better for people who find the post later while googleing a problem they are having. Question before answers. If you feel that you do not have enough time to take the 1 maybe two seconds to scroll to the bottom of a post, you are way to busty and need to re-prioritize you activities. Obviously this is just my opinion, take or leave it, your choice. Thank You, JohnM