linuxgeek: Re: [LINUX_Newbies] OTHER POSTING PROBLEMS

Monday, October 26, 2009

Re: [LINUX_Newbies] OTHER POSTING PROBLEMS

On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 10:50:33AM -0400, ... wrote:
> RESPONDER: SEE MY BOTTOM POST COMMENT BELOW--
>
> Clay wrote:
>
> Seems to me that you just didn't get it. (talking about Justin's
> comments - responder's note, not Clay's)
>
> Clay.
>
> MY RESPONSE: Clay (and everyone), there are other issues with posting
> that should also be addressed.

Yes, and I mentioned some. Yahoo mail is apparently a horror
show--gmail's web interface shows yahoo mail as an image (apparently).
As Roy mentioned, netbooks, or worse, cell phones.

However, let's go back to the beginning of this mess, which I see,
started the same way the last one did. (This thread began to amuse me
enough to go back to the beginning in the archives.)

Jeff answered a question. In his answer, he put, at some point, "Please
don't top post."

Two other folks jumped into the thread, saying, who are you to tell me
how to post? That's how the whole mess started.

There's a reason, as has been stated, that we elite ones request this.
(Actually, if anyone here follows Fedora testing list, I had to
laugh--someone, a Fedora developer, just answered someone else's
question with a rather curt "Don't top post." This is a list, in
theory, for newcomers, educating newcomers for more elite lists is part
of it.

Now, if someone has a slight visual handicap (which happens), or has to
use yahoo, or is using their phone, fine. But to come in and say, HOW
DARE YOU TELL ME HOW TO POST, is A) hijacking a thread, lessening its
usefulness to the original poster, and B) butting into a conversation
that had nothing to do with you.

Now Roy, whom I greatly respect, mentioned people saying, "Top post and
I won't read it." What I *have* said, to someone that I was helping, ws
something like if you top post I may not see your reply. This is true.
If, two days later, I see something saying, "I did what you told me, but
it's not working", there's a good chance I'll have no memory that this
is something I was dealing with, and, as all the IT pros have pointed
out, we do look through literally hundreds of emails a day. Many are
things like system report messages, where we can tell, after the first
line or two if they need investigating, many are from mailing lists like
this, where we volunteer our time.

If someone top posts fine. If it's someone I'm helping, especially if
their response isn't immediate, then, I'm sorry, yes, I may not read
your post. I'm not going to follow every post on every list, there
aren't enough hours in the day. Folks should really take a look at

http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Or not. It's really up to each individual, but last time I suggested,
politely, that someone post properly--and YES, it is considered proper
according to the RFCs and most tech mail lists, I was called a jacka**.

That person went into my killfile, meaning I no longer see messages that
originate from them.

Again--everyone, do what you want. But your post better be darn
interesting if you expect many of the most knowledgeable people on the
list to read it. Sorry if that sounds elitist, but that's the way it
is.

--
Scott Robbins
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