Excessive Quoting

Chipp Walters chipp at chipp.com
Thu Aug 14 21:39:00 EDT 2003


Richard,
 I'd much rather see the contents of the new post at the very top for a
couple of reasons. The main one is that sometimes I'm using a PDA to read
these at it only grabs the first 2K of any message. You then have to 'mark
it for download' to read the rest, which can be a lengthy (and expensive)
ordeal.

The second is that IMO, it's easier to read the response first, then if I
see there's interesting info, I'll dig deeper. For instance, say you have a
long set of posts:

>>>Post 1
>>Post 2
>Post 3
Post 4

and Post 4 is "thanks, I didn't know that" -- it takes longer to read, and
there's no added value. Which brings me to the basic newsgroup etiquette of
trying to *always* add something to a post, rather than just saying thanks
(we're all guilty of it). If one wants to say 'thanks', it's better to email
privately (though now with the email addresses hidden, it's harder to do)

just my 2 cents,

Chipp


> Extra bonus points if could we also quote in standard
> top-to-bottom reading
> order.
>
> With a mix of readable (new at bottom) vs. comprehensive (new at
> top) styles
> we get posts like:
>
>   Post 4
>   >> Post 2
>   >>> Post 1
>   > Post 3
>
> ...when we coud have:
>
>   >>> Post 1
>   >> Post 2
>   > Post 3
>   Post 4
>
> Not only do such posts tell their story better, they also
> encourage trimming
> all but the most essential quoted portions before we get to your stuff.
> </curmudgeonliness>





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