2 Jan
2014
2 Jan
'14
4:05 p.m.
On Thu, Jan 02, 2014 at 02:07:15PM +0000, Q wrote:
IF context is needed, then you scroll down and further
down if you
need more. But how often is it necessary to read the context each
and every message? Why this insistence on the maximum amount of
effort -- lots and lots of scrolling -- just to read a reply?
That assumes that you include the full message you respond to at
the bottom of each reply. So after a 'months or even years' a
simple 'Yes, OK' will include hundreds of useless lines.
When you write a reply, your message will contain a reference
to the one you reply to. If the full context is ever needed,
every half-decent mail reader will find the original message
before you can blink your eyes.
It's often not worth the effort of reading a lot
of replies on the
list due to having to scroll past loads of earlier messages.
That happens only if the replies quote the full original message,
which is stupid. You quote the parts you respond to, and nothing
else, and put your response to that part after the quote so the
reader knows what you are referring to. In case you fail to grok
this: the first paragraph I wrote refers to the first snippet
quoted from your message, and so on.
It seems to me that the only problem is that
bottom-posting clashes
with how people actually write messages in every other sphere of
life -- it (bottom-posting) is an outdated practice that needs to
die and allow mailing lists to move with the times.
If 'moving with the times' means being ignorant and rude then
you're probably right.
Ciao,
--
FA
A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia.
It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris
and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)