[cobalt-users] AAHHHHH!!!

[Carrie Bartkowiak <ravencarrie@xxxxxxxx>]

The subject line was to hopefully get your attention.
It's obvious that newer posters have not read the Meta-Faqs. Dom 
Latter puts a lot of work into them and posts them at the beginning 
of each month for everyone to see; he did so just last week.
I've just read about 30 messages straight where the responses were 
posted *above* the material they were replying to. Newbies, this is 
called top-posting and it is NOT the way to respond to a post here on 
the cobalt-user's list.

When replying to someone PLEASE follow this method:
Highlight a few relevant lines from the post that you want to reply 
to - not the entire email - and *then* hit reply. 
With most email programs this will cause only the highlighted part of 
the post to be inserted in the reply. If this is not the case with 
your email program, then take the time to delete or backspace over 
the parts that aren't relevant, leaving only the part you want to 
respond to.
Then click your mouse UNDER the quoted material and begin typing your 
response.

When you simply hit reply and type your message, a number of things 
happen...
1. People on digest have to put up with a repeat of the entire post 
you're replying to. This makes the digest *really* long, and quite a 
few of our members in European countries must pay for their bandwidth 
when downloading email.
2. We have to read your reply, scroll down to see exactly who and 
what post you're replying to, then scroll back up to see if your 
reply makes any more sense now that we have some context to put it 
in. This is extremely annoying.
3. It's breaking common mailing list etiquette, and is just as bad as 
TYPING IN ALL CAPS AND SCREAMING AT EVERYONE.
4. Many long-time mailing list members will ignore your email; 
because if you can't even bother to read the Meta-Faq and follow the 
rules, then you don't deserve any help. It goes on the idea "show 
respect, and you'll be respected". There *are* rules here on the list 
and while most of us are pretty flexible with the rules, top-posting 
vs. bottom-posting is not a matter of preference, it's a matter of 
respecting everyone else enough to save them some time when trying to 
help you.

DON'T TOP-POST!!
Now go to the archives (link to them can be found at the bottom of 
every post, including this one) and find the Meta-Faq that Dom posted 
just last week.

--
CarrieB
"The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and 
look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can´t find them, 
make them." --George Bernard Shaw