[ic] Lazy posters (Was: Add new fields for the products)

Jon prtyof5 at attglobal.net
Wed Aug 20 23:31:00 EDT 2003


>
> > > How would anyone expected to follow the above mess if they found
> > > it an a mail list archive search?
> > >
> > > Please follow the interchange-users posting guidelines, which are
> > > regularly sent to this list:
> > >
> > >   1. Trim unnecessary text from your followups.  Did you really need
> > >      to quote three sets of links to the listinfo page in your article?
> > >
> > >   2. Post your followup text within some sort of context, i.e:
> > >
> > >              Quoting user1 (<user1 at icdevgroup.org>):
> > >              > Some limited text that will give context.
> > >              >
> > >              Your reply.
> > >
> > >      instead of:
> > >
> > >              Your reply, lazily put at the top.
> > >
> > >              Quoting user1 (<user1 at icdevgroup.org>):
> > >              > A whole big blob of previous articles, including
> > >              > signatures and all.
> > >
> > > You'll find that, if you post properly, then more people will read
> > > your articles and you may even get more responses.  I stop following
> > > threads when people top-post their followups - even if the followup
> > > is in response to one of my articles.  I know lots of others who do
> > > the same.
> > >
> >
> > Hear hear. My time is valuable, to myself if no one else. I will not
> > spend it trying to figure out the posts of people too lazy to do
> > things properly.
> >
> > Most people who use MS Outlook or some other similarly-crippled
> > mail agent end up doing this, partly because their software makes
> > it so hard to do things properly.
> >
> > My advice to these people is to learn some editor well, any editor,
> > then get a mail client that invokes *your* editor to edit the mail
> > message instead of using some brain-dead internal editor like Notepad.
> >
> > --
> > Mike Heins
>
> It's not just the IC list that works like this either. As just one example,
> the linux kernel mailing list requires their posters to post in a coherent
> and sensible fashion. Read http://www.tux.org/lkml/#s3-9 for more info.
>
> I know i've been guilty of a top posting before, but that's usually a side
> effect of being temporarily undercaffinated, AND i'm one of those who uses a
> braindead mail client. Under those circumstances, i've always ignored my own
> top posting, which seems in some way to actually be an attempt to cancel out
> acknowledgement of my own existance. This has led to numerous (unproductive)
> hours of Strange Loop contemplation, trying to decide whether i'd top posted
> in order to deny my own self, or if because i don't really exist, i top
> posted. Don't let this happen to you, kids!
>
>  In the initial signup mail, is the whole top posting thing spelt out really
> clearly? Perhaps some sort of section saying "WARNING, WARNING, WARNING,
> YOUR POSTS WILL BE IGNORED AND YOUR CHILDREN CAST INTO THE BURNING PITS OF
> HELL IF YOU DO NOT READ AND FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES", etc.
>

    With the MANY searches of the archives I've done I can really appreciate the
bottom
posting request. And can also appreciate top posters being ignored because it
isn't like
they weren't informed. I don't think I've ever top posted but if I have I
understand if I've
been ignored for that reason.  Though after many 18 hour days in a row it is
possible
I've either top posted or have been simply incoherent. I only wish someone would

say I've either top posted, asked a stupid question, something that is for sure
in the
archives and keep searching, or yea a simply incoherent question and I need to
go back
and research more or ask after a few hours of sleep but not ignored. In any case
no complaints.

Jon




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