This is the mail archive of the cygwin-talk mailing list for the cygwin project.
Index Nav: | [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index] | |
---|---|---|
Message Nav: | [Date Prev] [Date Next] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] |
Other format: | [Raw text] |
On Wed, Dec 13, 2006 at 02:22:29PM +0100, Danilo Turina wrote:Christopher Faylor wrote:...I just saw this:Anyway, IMHO, writing after the quote is not always the best way to go.
http://learn.to/quote/
IMO, the use of the "to" domain is cute and the web page itself is nicely done.
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).
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.
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.
Index Nav: | [Date Index] [Subject Index] [Author Index] [Thread Index] | |
---|---|---|
Message Nav: | [Date Prev] [Date Next] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] |