"Commodore Joe Redcloud©" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:57:14 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"Commodore Joe Redcloud©" wrote in message
. ..
On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:26:23 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

Tell, me. When you are involved in a conversation with twenty people
at a party, do you repeat the entire previous conversation before
adding your new thoughts? Does the next person to speak then repeat
the whole previous conversation, including what you just said, before
adding their new thoughts?


Commodore Joe Redcloud©

Whether you post at the top or the bottom, you generally leave some or all
of the preceding text, which is analogous to other people in a
conversation
having already heard what was said before. The reason to post at the
bottom
is that most people read from the top of a page to the bottom, unless
they're on their 18th cocktail. There's simply no good reason for top
posting.


There is simply no good reason to care either way. The real problem is
those who don't trim appropriately. In conversation, it is normal to
work in a brief clue as to what you are replying too.

ie: As John said, you can't just paint a rusty car to make it run
better. In my experience that rarely does much at all to improve
performance.

You don't need to repeat everything that has been said in the last
hour to give your comments context and relevance. A properly trimmed
reply is equally easy to handle wheter it is top posted or bottom
posted. If someone has to scroll through 600 lines to get to your
added text, you are not doing it correctly. If you feel you just HAVE
to repost the whole thread in your reply for it to make sense, you
really should top post.

You get extra points for using white space, by the way.