[mythtvnz] Top posting

[Nick Rout]

On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 3:11 PM, tortise <tortise at paradise.net.nz> wrote:

> On 8/12/2012 2:30 p.m., criggie wrote:
>
>                       And yes this side-posting
>>                      was a PITA to lay out and I
>>                      won't be doing it again.
>>
>
> Good. While I appreciate the trouble you went to entertain us with a
> little bit of creativity it is also a PITA to read...!
>
> I also find bottom posting a trial (also ascii text cf HTML however I
> eventually worked out how to standardise that), I respect the list owner is
> free to set the rules, it has a definite logic, and as much as it is also
> anti many conventions, including Thunderbird's, if we did not agree to top
> or bottom post then the flow of any threads argument would take on yet
> another level of complexity to negotiate that would be wholly unproductive!
>
> Aside from a need for a logical order and clear personal preference, I'd
> be interested if there are any other reasons for the bottom posting
> preference?  I am aware, for example, that many lawyers will also commonly
> top post.
>
>
>
I don't think I have ever posted a set of hard and fast rules for this
email list, but I do expect the same sort of etiquette as on mythtv-users.
That includes no blatantly commercial posting, no discussion of illegal or
legally questionable practices or software, bottom or inline posting, stay
on topic, be polite.

John Poet's footer as quoted a couple of messages ago sums up why bottom
posting is preferred. It simply makes sense to read the question and then
the comment on it. Inline posting is just another form of bottom posting
that places each response under the statement or question it is responding
to.

I too tend to top post on business emails, because otherwise the
correspondents (who often have less technical nous than you lot) simply
don't see the answer.


As far as other suggestions about footers etc, I am not persuaded to
change. If people don't supply enough information a quick response to say
what info is needed is all that is needed, and most people don't need some
long complex faq to look through.

For example in Don's recent thread re a new frontend, probably the only
question that needed to be asked was "what inputs does your TV have?" I
certainly don't need to know the model and a link to the manual. If he has
HDMI the answer is X, if he has at best composite then the answer is Y.
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