[vorbis] Quoting (OT)

[Beni Cherniavsky]

Lorenzo Prince wrote on 2003-05-31:

> Preben Randhol staggered into view and mumbled:
> > Yes and top-replying is extremely annoying.
>
> Actually, top-replying isn't a problem for me, as I have already read the
> question before the reply came.  I prefer top-replying, as I don't have
> to skip down a page or more of quoting just to get to the answer I was
> looking for.
>
That may seem a good idea when you read/write the first such reply.
The problem begins when somebody replies to such replies and the
thread grows.  As the dialog deepens, it is very useful to preserve
the right context and just as useful to throw out the irrelevant
context.  Replying in the body of the message below the relevant parts
makes it as easy as cutting irrelevant lines.  Discussions of
different parts of the original message can evolve separately without
any problems; with top-replies this is almost impossible.

OTOH, when replying to a top-reply, I'm faced with a choice between
dropping all previous context to working hard with my editor to
rearange the parts in the classical below-reply style.  So
top-replying might be a short-term win but it will make somebody's
life down the line harder.  Since you are posting to a public mailing
list, you should also consider the usefulness of your messages to
people who will read it from the archives in the future, which would
have a harder time putting things in proper context with far-separated
antichronically-ordered questions and replies.

One thing that does annoy me very much is that many people don't strip
the mailing list's signature from their replies.  They leave it like
this (and it accumulates, because list the server adds another one and
so on):

> --- >8 ----
> List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
> Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/
> To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request at xiph.org'
> containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body.  No subject is needed.
> Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.
>
Except for the sake of an example, I believe I never let a list's
signature through my posts in several years of being on this list (and
others).  It's easy to remove manually, so please do so!

Perhaps giving up that smiley cut line in favor of the standard "-- "
sigdashes would help (many mailers remove anything below them
automatically).


-- 
Beni Cherniavsky <cben at users.sf.net>

A: No!
Q: Is top-posting OK?

[Seen in somebody's signature on Usenet.]
--- >8 ----
List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request at xiph.org'
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Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.