From: "Ernest Lilley" <elilley at mindspring.com>
To: "'WSFA members'" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Top Posting: Putting the punch line first.
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 09:41:52 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

<<I agree.  I urge everyone to trim quoted text, and keep only enough
to establish context.  Nobody wants to see the same lengthy message
several times in one day.>>

I'm with Keith on this one. I try to use a snippet to establish what I'm
replying to and then post just below it. I read my email in a preview window
that only holds a small amount of text...so scrolling down through long
messages I've already read is a real drag.

My personal rule in letter writing is to post the information most needed
first, and to support it subsequently. I call it putting the punch line
first.

I think the best thing to do would be "trimmed interposting" but I'm not
interested in trying to constrain people from choosing their own style. I'd
say that top posting as a style probably has to do with an IM influence, and
the WSFA list is more of a chat session than anything else. IMHO.

Ernest Lilley

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