[moneydance] List protocol - top post, bottom post or don't care

[Edward Reid]

OK, since you asked: my very strong preference is that you delete 
everything except what you are quoting for context, to trim the latter to 
the minimum needed to establish the context, and then to write responses 
directly below the text establishing the context.

After all, I'm part of the list. I've already read the prior message. I 
don't need you to send it to me again. The only time it makes sense to 
include the entire thread is when adding someone to a conversation who has 
missed part of it. This only applies in private email, not mailing lists, 
and in this case the proper practice is to forward relevant previous emails 
to the new participant.

However, top-posting is preferable to full-quoting with bottom posting. On 
this list, when I open a message and the first page is entirely quotes, I 
usually skip the message without attempting to find the new text.

As already mentioned, this is a religious war, which means we all lose: 
those who are wrong will continue in their ways either due to ignorance or 
apathy or passion, and those who are right will not have the passion to 
prevail. Note that this presentation avoids saying which is which.

In any case, my side has long lost in the business world, where the 
prevailing practice is to use Outlook as the mailer and MS Word as the 
editor, and to top-post with full quoting. When such people realize that 
in-line comments are helpful, they attempt to break up the blocks of text 
and separate their comments by using colored text. The result is a bloody 
mess, and the resulting emails are huge because it's all HTML. Ugh. Because 
I have to work in this world, I practice what I preach when writing, but 
hold my nose and avoid preaching when reading.

Edward
-- 
Art works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org