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Re: Maybe this is old news but...


On Wed, Dec 13, 2006 at 02:22:29PM +0100, Danilo Turina wrote:
> Christopher Faylor wrote:
> > ...I just saw this:
> > 
> > http://learn.to/quote/
> > 
> > IMO, the use of the "to" domain is cute and the web page itself is
> > nicely done.
> > 
> 
> Anyway, IMHO, writing after the quote is not always the best way to go.
> That is, it's the best way to go if the reader is reading only the last 
> mail of the thread and wants to know all the context of the discussion, 
> but if one, as I usually do, reads a thread starting from the first 
> post, it's a bit awful, since you have something like this:
> 
> When you read a post that is around level 5/6 you must skip a lot of 
> text that you have already read in the previous posts and, of course, 
> the text you are interested in (i.e. the reply of the sender of the 
> post) is not immediately visibile when you open the post (you must 
> scroll down and skip the above text before reaching it).

    *     <---- The Concept

    O
   \|_    <---- You
    |
   / \

A mailing list may have many many thousands of actively subscribed
readers, to say nothing of the countless numbers who may read and
re-read (often well after the fact) bits and pieces of the archived
content reproduced or otherwise made available somewhere on the web.
The use of accepted standards and adoption of long-held conventions is
what gives the list its value by providing a consistent and accessible
format to everyone.  And like all forms of communication, presentation
and context is everything.

That you find it convenient to disregard any of those conventions
(top-posting and/or not trimming quoted material are just two possible
examples) I consider somewhere between ignorant and selfish.  Reading a
But It Works For Me justification is like listening to someone who
litters or doesn't clean up after his dog explain that it was easier not
to bother, and that no one is going to notice or be affected.
 
You don't have to believe like I do that God kills a kitten every time
someone does a TOFU number.  You should believe that you've annoyed,
inconvenienced, or otherwise confused a few thousand people.  On the
other hand, if I'm making too big a deal out of this, and that your
emails aren't that important, maybe you want to refrain from
participating in a public medium altogether and stick to IM-ing with
your friends?

An alternative, of course, is learn to use your email client.  Or get a
better one, and learn to use it, instead.  I'd suggest using mutt.  Even
better, try mutt and use the display_filter directive to hide all quoted
text, and see how many minutes pass before you realise you don't
understand WTF anyone is talking about.

-- 
George


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