[FFmpeg-user] top posting issue

[Andy Furniss]

Roman wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
> I've seen many times people asking/forcing not to top-post to the
> list... So here I've got a question.. Why ?

It's a mailing list, not just a conversation between two people.

When you ask multiple questions different people may answer different
parts, which may spawn sub threads.

Reading what may become a large conversation with multiple people and
sub threads with everyone top posting (and not snipping) is just a total
pain, whereas reading with something that does threads where everyone
doesn't top post and snips is much easier.

> Most of programs, including gmail app and gmail web come with top
> posting by default and this is the way all people are used to read
> mail.

I would argue that many people who use mailing lists are not used to
reading mail "this way" and actually hate it ....

> Why the hell one should scroll down to see the last post if it is
> very ok to see the last post on the top of incming e-mail.

Because a lot of times it's not "very ok" to understand what's going on
by seeing the last post - you end up having to try and read all the
preceding bits backwards. To repeat this is a public list, I may want to
read a thread with a hundred posts in it.

> Where such attitude/culture comes from? Anyone to explain?

It's the same on usenet (for those of us that still use it) - also if I
post in a forum thread I don't end up "on top", do you think forums
should sort all posts backwards?

It also allows the way I split your questions to happen sanely.