[GreenKeys] Replying to list WAS Re: Need ASR33 repair help, in Ann Arbor...

[Chris Elmquist]

On Friday (11/28/2014 at 05:54PM -0500), WA5CAB--- via GreenKeys wrote:
> Sorry, but I dislike bottom posters for two reasons:
> 
> First, maybe 2 or 3% of messages come from people who clicked REPLY (or one 
> of the other choices depending upon mail manager) and then click SEND 
> without writing anything (I know that we've all done that).

But this is like making all the kids wear diapers because one kid wet
his pants.

I have never done this because my email does not work by "clicking"
anything.

> So the (or all) recipient(s) spends 2 or 3 minutes searching back and
> forth through the received message looking for the reply. because
> they probably don't know whether the sender is a top poster or a
> bottom poster.

But that's because it was a mistake.  A proper reply would not have
quoted ALL of the text of the sender in one giant blob anyway.

You can just delete messages with giant blobs because, no argument there,
the signal to noise is really low.

> Last, I dislike having to scroll to the bottom of any post looking for the 
> reply, then probably back to the top to see what the reply was in reply to, 
> then back to the bottom to re-read, etc.

The responses should be grouped with the thought, idea or concept to
which they are referring--  not piled all at the top OR all at the bottom.

> Email should be organized newest to oldest.regardless of whether the
> sender is an under-trimmer, an over-trimmer.or a logical trimmer,

Timeline does not matter.  Someone might respond to a posting three
months from now and be interested in addressing only one small point in
an otherwise very long thread.  He should preserve the text to which he
is responding and put his response right after that.  Cut out and toss
everything else.


    A: Because we read from top to bottom, left to right.
    Q: Why should I start my reply below the quoted text?

    A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
    Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?   

    A: The lost context.
    Q: What makes top-posted replies harder to read than bottom-posted?

    A: Yes.
    Q: Should I trim down the quoted part of an email to which I'm replying?

-- 
Chris Elmquist NØJCF