Re #3: top posting (was: Hijack!)

On Tuesday 11 December 2007 12:23, Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> Simply replying to an argument with an assertion to the contrary is, I
> think, dogmatism. The argument for top posting is that it is _easier_ to
> read for certain kinds of cases. I have already rehearsed those arguments;
> I think they are both sound and valid, but they don't consider every
> situation, and so they also lead to a wrong conclusion sometimes.
>

You criticize that Joshua's reply was dogmatism but was yours any better?

> I would argue that this message is harder to read than if I'd just replied
> at the top. It's pointlessly long -- but without including everything, you
> wouldn't have all the context, and you might have missed something. (The
> context argument is, of course, the usual one favoured by
> call-and-response/"bottom posting" advocates. So, your context is above.)
>
> As for the "snip" claim, it has several problems:
>
> 1. It is easy, by injudicious, careless, or malicious use of cutting
> from others' posts, to change the main focus of their argument, and thereby
> draw the thread in a completely new direction.
>
> 2. Owing to (1), snipping is a favourite tactic of trollers.
>
> 3. Owing to (1), snipping is a favourite target for cranks, who
> immediately turn such threads into long _ad hominems_ about the malicious
> slurs being heaped on them by others.
>

I think people can see through these weak ad hominem arguments; no matter how
much you try to cast the technique in a negative light, that doesn't really
make it wrong, and in fact, there are many reasons to encourage people to do
it (bandwidth saving alone is one benefit)

<snip>
> I think it's worthwhile putting a note in the welcome-to-new-subscribers
> that this community doesn't like top posting, and that top posting may well
> cause your messages to be ignored. Those claims are both true, and we
> don't need to justify it with jumped-up claims about the objective
> superiority of one method over another. I think we should also avoid being
> too doctrinaire about it.
>

Adding something to the FAQ/Subscribe message certainly couldnt hurt.
--
Robert Treat
Build A Brighter LAMP :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL