Usenet posts
        |
Just some random Usenet posts I've made that I want to keep for posterity.
Deja link
Subject: Re: hmmm, what the hell is wrong with some people
Date: 11/06/2000
"Alistair Fraser" Regarding top-posting:
1) Some quoting is necessary. This has to be done in order to give context to your reply. Remember that it might have been several days since the viewer has read the original article you are replying to, and due to the vagaries of NNTP propogation, he (or she, naturally) might not have read it at all. Some quoting is therefore necessary. This also ensures each article is readable as it stands, without reference to previous articles the poster might (or might not) have read. Depending on the nature of the article being replied to, some or most of it might be quoted. Signatures should always be removed, and you can choose to indicate the removal of other text by inserting the word {snip}.
2) Having decided to quote, it dramatically improves the readability and flow of your document to intersperse quote and reply in the manner usually adopted on most newsgroups. Top-posting means that anyone trying to read your article as a free-standing document must scroll up and down, trying to figure out who said what and to whom. It implicitly carries the message that "my time as an author is worth more than yours as a reader" and so offends people. It takes 5secs to cut&paste the quoted text from the bottom of the OE window to the top. Please do so.
Remember that Usenet is very, very old indeed in computer terms. These rules of netiquette have evolved over that time, and although they may look odd, there are very good reasons behind them.
Here: http://www.google.com/search?q=usenet+netiquette+top-posting are some links that might aid your research.
http://www.btinternet.com/~chiba/sbox/topposters.html looks particularly pertinent. http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/Usenet.html has some more information on Usenet. There is a lot more out there, but I'm sure you get the idea.
In short, please don't top-post.
> Ah i see, I was wondering what the hell Hughes was on about. But ill let
> him off since he though I was someone else. I only started posting
hear
> a few days ago. Came too see what all the fuss what about.