The Perils of Working For Friends

[TBM]

[mac davis]

Don't work for friends that drive on the wrong side of the road???

Mac

[mac davis]

Yeah... make something fool proof and someone will invent a bigger fool... *g*

I "snip" a lot but when I remember to, I find that (in Agent) if I highlight the text that I'm replying to, that's all that will be in the post...

OTOH, when things are "snipped" incorrectly, it can appear that someone else was the OP or that "CW said" when actually it was a prior poster... Or something like that..... I need more caffeine before any thinking is gonna take place.. Mac

[mac davis]

One that always bugs me is "at this point in time"

either say "at this point" or "at this time"... Mac

[mac davis]

If you really want to piss folks off, start a new thread with each of your replies... damn, I hate when people do that... Mac

[Mark & Juanita]

Which is the reason it starts at the top. The idea is that "interspersed" commentary is easiest to follow and allows the person replying to respond specifically to various points and trim those points not being addressed.

Now, that makes little sense whatsoever. If you are going to scroll down and trim anyway, why put the comments at the top where they are out of order with the replies?

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[CW]

They are in order of what was previously written. Including the previous text at the bottom is just a concession to those that just joined a thread or those with memory problems. The reference is there if you need it. Say you read a book over a weeks time. Do you start from the beginning each time you pick it up or do you start were you left off?

If you are going to scroll down

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[CW]

" At this point in time" makes perfect sense. If one were to say "at this point", he did not specify what point he was referring to. It could be a point in the room, a point in the galaxy, the point on his head. By saying "at this point in time", he is specifying a specific point. Kind of like a car salesman standing in front of a lot of 500 cars and saying "this car is the best deal on the lot". Which car? He didn't say.

[TBM]

Exactly.

[TBM]

Do you post on any web forums? If so, do the posts flow from the top to the bottom or the other way around?

[alexy]

Are you sure you want to use that analogy?

I usually pick up a book and start reading FOLLOWING what I have read previously, and look back at the previous couple of paragraphs if I need a refresher on where I left off. I seldom expect Chapter 9 to now be at the front of the book, and have to scroll through multiple chapters to find the material most recently read.

[LRod]

All the software on the web forums I've been on give you the option to customize how your messages are displayed (mixed, threaded, reversed; for example), and the time period of messages to be displayed (last 24 hours, last two days, last week, etc.).

How your parameters are set determines how you see the messages. I always set mine so that all the newest messages are first. Seems the logical order of things.

Some software optionally quotes earlier messages in a separate box, other software doesn't, consequently top or bottom posting is never an issue.

At the risk of repeating myself, this would never be an issue if bottom posters would trim all but the relavent parts of the post to which they're replying instead of the whole friggin' thread. But they don't. My mission then is to top post (and vigorously edit) whenever possible to try and set a good example of how to logically communicate.

[B A R R Y]

That's one of the reasons I can't get into web forums.

So many folks start the reply in the subject line, starting a new thread, making things impossible to follow.

[LRod]

in my opinion.

Love this side posting. Thanks for suggesting it.

[Mike Richardson]

OK, ok, Ok, I HAVE to chime in :-)

Just sitting here reading this thread - and although I am a top-poster - I am not a zealot, but gee - its so much easier for me as I read a thread, (knowing I am inside a thread you seeee...), and as I go from message to message, the next part of the conversation is the FIRST part I see - advantage to top posters.

When I strike bottom posters, or mid posters, as I go to next message, I have to LOCATE the releveant next bit....multiply this by the number of messages in a troll thread (oops) like this one, that has me sucked in, and it gets aggravating.

I date from 300/1200 push buttom manual connect modems, with no transfer resume xmodem protocols, that meant EVERY byte wasted hurt lots of people, I am now just coming in to the 90's.....:-)

Pls just try to picture me kicking back relaxing, reading my fav newsgroup, hitting next, read, next , read, next, o...scroll, look, scroll a little - ahh there, read, next, read, next, arggh scroll a little read, spit on screen, scroll, ah no more there, next....blahg blah blah. :-)

My tuppeny bit's worth..

Mike P.S. On topic bit - well, I have lost more tools than I can count over the years, and dome more unreturned favours than that. Why keep going? The gift is in the giving, not the condition of a return. Still are people who I would'nt give to, and the OP's people - pfft wouldn't even knock the top off a beer for em after the treatment first time - and I can see a LOOOOT of pain coming for OP if he doesnt heed the warning signs...

Ciao 4 Niao

M

snip

[Puckdropper]

"Mike Richardson" wrote in news:QqoKg.22025$ [e-mail]:

*snip*

*snip* As do I, but my newsreader makes it easy. I press [shift]+[space] and it finds the unquoted text. Some posters don't use the same "greater than delimited" text format, so it doesn't always work. It works most of the time, though.

Puckdropper

[Puckdropper]

LRod wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Puckdropper

[LRod]

Absolutely. Thankfully this thread will die out soon and I can go back to top posting as usual.

Growing old is mandatory--growing up is optional.

[Bob Martin]

exception of the UK,

[TBM]

You should have just said nothing at all....