Hi, those discussions about top or bottom posting, TOFU etc. are surely eating up some bandwith here. What amazes me is that all the arguing seems to miss the point. This is not really about the convenience of reading the answer without scrolling or about how it is "usually" done (an argument used by both parties). If that was all that is to say about top or bottom posting, than it wouldn't be worthwhile to start arguing in the first place. And I guess it is exactly this what most top posters are saying. I hope the following example makes it more clear why bottom posting (together with propper quoting) offers functionality to both the writer as well as the reader that bottom posting doesn't. All the arguing seems to compare the two ways of posting as beeing to choice between the following two versions: --- snip -----
what the first person said about this and that he made a suggestion and had a question
and that would be the answer of the bottom poster --- snap ---- and --- snip ----- that would be the answer of the top poster
what the first person said about this and that he made a suggestion and had a question --- snap ----
Not a big deal either way. But how would you - as a bottom poster try and achieve the equivalent to --- snip -----
what the first person said about this
a comment about this
and that
a comment about that
he made a suggestion and had a question
an answer --- snap ---- In real life this can become difficult (for a top poster) if not impossible to achieve. Of course it depends on the coplexity of the prvious mail(s). And of course it becomes more and more difficult the more persons are involved. As a bottom poster I have no trouble in adding to that discusion without loosing the context: --- snip -----
what the first person said about this
a comment about this
my comment about this.
and that
a comment about that
he made a suggestion
I could easily say something about the initial posters suggestion.
and had a question
an answer
and add to that. --- snap ----- One of the main reasons against bottom posting as I take it from this discusion seems to be that it is is awkward to scroll down to the new contribution. And that's an important point: one should trim down the quoted text to only those parts that the answer is actually referring to. So the last example should really have been: --- snip -----
what the first person said about this
a comment about this
my comment about this. [...]
he made a suggestion
I could easily say something about the initial posters suggestion.
and had a question
an answer
and add to that. --- snap ----- So, not only one should bottom post but one should also avoid quoting parts of the previous mail that are not relevant to the answer. These techniques might not be so relevant when it comes to a discussion between two people. But on a list where quite often 5 or more people are involved, bottom posting *really* is the only way to achieve the goal that the discussion stays comprehensible for the reader. If I didn't manage to convince you, please take the time and have a look through some longer and more complex threads that have been made out of bottom posts. Try to think how this could have been done with top posting. Greetings from Bremen hartmut