[GRLUG] Social norms

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> > Next time you're in a court room, board or staff meeting, or any other
> > deliberative assembly, try letting them know that following Robert's
> > Rules of Order isn't the only way to manage a meeting.  See how well
> > that goes over.
> > As J-T R has mentioned, 30 years of experience has determined that
> > this way works least-worst.  I'm not going to tell you that you can't
> > top post.  That's not my place.  I'll just point out that, as with any
> > social norm, disregarding it carries a penalty - a social stigma.  One
> > that generally results in thrice-full mailboxes of 'e-peen'.
> > If you're really so upset with the conversation, how about modifying
> > your habits so it doesn't happen [to you] again?
> Here is the problem though: It seems to be about a 50/50 split on this 
> list between people who like top posting (I am one of them) and people 
> like you.

No, I disagree.  I think there is a significant majority of technical
user who prefer bottom posting.  But most of the time we just ignore
these threads because they occur constantly on innumerable lists.

The only argument for top-posting is "I don't like to scroll down to see
the most recent parts of the message."  If the bogus nature of this
argument [the purpose of the forum extends beyond how conveniently you
perceive reading your mail to be] isn't obvious it isn't worth
discussing.  

Also it helps to use a decent mail client,  in my experience most of the
people who complain about top/bottom posting are using an inferior.