Re: [boost] Discussion policy

From: David Abrahams (david.abrahams_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-03-27 09:06:19

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Allison" <cda_at_[hidden]>
> You (and I) just top-posted :-).
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Abrahams" <david.abrahams_at_[hidden]>
> > I agree. Would you like to submit a website patch? I would gladly
help
> > to edit it.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Vladimir Prus" <ghost_at_[hidden]>
> >
> >
> > > Hi,
> > > after reading the Boost mailing list for quite a lot time now, I
can
> > say that
> > > there's one thing which makes reading it very hard. That thing is
> > > top-posting. As a result, instead of sigle thread that I can
easily
> > browse
> > > (or ignore), I get a big number of individual messages.
> > >
> > > I understand that some people may use web-based mail readers or
have
> > other
> > > technical problems with replying in the right way, but
> > nonwithstanding,
> > > shoudn't discussion policy hint that top-posting is better
avoided?
> > This
> > > question will be even more important if the mailing list is
forwarded
> > to a
> > > newsgroup.
> > >
> > > BTW, things like over-quoting and topic drift also happen quite
often.
> > > Shouldn't discussion policy say something on it?

And this confuses some mailers?? I'm inclined to suggest that the
problem is with the mailer, not the top-quoter in this case. When
posting a very short comment it can be best to for human readers to see
the comment and look further down to notice, "oh yeah, that's the
context of this discussion". Scrolling past the discussion that's
already been seen is not terribly user-friendly.

I really hope that newsreaders do better. If we ever get the nntp
interface for boost running, it will make everyone's life much simpler.

-Dave