Top Posting Question

Andrew Kelly akelly at corisweb.org
Thu Oct 25 08:51:51 UTC 2007


On Thu, 2007-10-25 at 01:09 +0100, Ian Chapman wrote:
> alan wrote:
> 
> > People learn their posting habits from the first environment they used 
> > e-mail in. 
> 
> Totally true. Before the days when The Internet became as ubiquitous as 
> it is now, I would post to a mail network called Fidonet. This was 
> carried around the world by amateurs, primarily using dial-up modems and 
> often very slow modems < 2400bps at their own expense. Not trimming 
> replies, top posting, and huge sigs would soon get you banned because of 
> the unnecessary expense incurred. The modem is long gone but the habit 
> has remained! :)
> 
> -- 
> Ian Chapman.

Indeed.

The young also used to treat those older than them with respect, often
calling them Ma'am or Sir. 
Men used to stand when a woman joined or left the table.
Hats used never to be worn indoors, and were removed in the presence of
a lady.
Doors were opened, the words 'please' and 'thank you' were used, seats
were offered, eye contact was made, letters were written, salutations
used, help offered, ...

So much of "progress" is fecal matter.

If a 30 year old can't remember etiquette (something with which he or
she most certainly was raised), how can we expect those new to
'computing' to remember Netiquette? 

Attention span => buffer overflow

Andy




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