Suggestion on how to make newsgroup messages easier to read

  • Thread starter Thread starter Larry
  • Start date Start date
L

Larry

Newsgroup messages would be easier and quicker to read if the text of
each message appeared at the TOP of each message, instead of BELOW the
text of the previous message(s), which makes it necessary to scroll down
past the previous message(s) before you can read the new message.

Larry
 
Trouble maker !

Troll !

But I do agree.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing. . . .
DanG
 
I agree. Many newsgroups have "rule police" that get after you if you post
on top, has never stopped me from posting on top, then I have the choice to
scroll farther down if I don't get the gist of the message.

Mark
 
Amen. Without wanting to start a top vs. bottom posting flame war, I have to
say that I get very disgusted when I scroll down several screens to find a
one-line comment indistinguishable from the quoted text because it got stuck
into a quote character left over from the quoted portion.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
It's the "War that never ends" Suzanne. I try to think of MS groups as not
being a part of Usenet and with that in mind, the Usenet rules don't apply.
When we are dealing with posters with little or no experience, it is difficult
to try and get them to follow someone's (never agreed on) rules. They often
have enough trouble just stating what the problem is.

--
George (Bindar Dundat ©) MS-MVP

For Windows Troubleshooting Tips see;
http://aumha.org/win4/a/tshoot.htm

| Amen. Without wanting to start a top vs. bottom posting flame war, I have to
| say that I get very disgusted when I scroll down several screens to find a
| one-line comment indistinguishable from the quoted text because it got stuck
| into a quote character left over from the quoted portion.
|
| --
| Suzanne S. Barnhill
| Microsoft MVP (Word)
| Words into Type
| Fairhope, Alabama USA
| Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
| Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
| all may benefit.
|
| | > Newsgroup messages would be easier and quicker to read if the text of
| > each message appeared at the TOP of each message, instead of BELOW the
| > text of the previous message(s), which makes it necessary to scroll down
| > past the previous message(s) before you can read the new message.
| >
| > Larry
| >
| >
|
 
It wouldn't hurt to add it to the posting suggestions on the MVP FAQ site,
though. I know many posts look like the poster doesn't read that page,
though.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory:
<URL: http://addbalance.com/word/index.htm>

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide)
<URL: http://addbalance.com/usersguide/index.htm>

See also the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
Well you have to also calculate in the fact that most posters are using either
Outlook Express or the web interface to post and both default to Top. AFAIK
there is no way to change it in the web interface.

--
George (Bindar Dundat ©) MS-MVP

For Windows Troubleshooting Tips see;
http://aumha.org/win4/a/tshoot.htm

| It wouldn't hurt to add it to the posting suggestions on the MVP FAQ site,
| though. I know many posts look like the poster doesn't read that page,
| though.
| --
|
| Charles Kenyon
|
| Word New User FAQ & Web Directory:
| <URL: http://addbalance.com/word/index.htm>
|
| Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
| Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide)
| <URL: http://addbalance.com/usersguide/index.htm>
|
| See also the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
| --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
| This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
| and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
| from my ignorance and your wisdom.
|
| | > It's the "War that never ends" Suzanne. I try to think of MS groups as
| not
| > being a part of Usenet and with that in mind, the Usenet rules don't
| apply.
| > When we are dealing with posters with little or no experience, it is
| difficult
| > to try and get them to follow someone's (never agreed on) rules. They
| often
| > have enough trouble just stating what the problem is.
| >
| > --
| > George (Bindar Dundat ©) MS-MVP
| >
| > For Windows Troubleshooting Tips see;
| > http://aumha.org/win4/a/tshoot.htm
| >
| > | > | Amen. Without wanting to start a top vs. bottom posting flame war, I
| have to
| > | say that I get very disgusted when I scroll down several screens to find
| a
| > | one-line comment indistinguishable from the quoted text because it got
| stuck
| > | into a quote character left over from the quoted portion.
| > |
| > | --
| > | Suzanne S. Barnhill
| > | Microsoft MVP (Word)
| > | Words into Type
| > | Fairhope, Alabama USA
| > | Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
| > | Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
| newsgroup so
| > | all may benefit.
| > |
| > | | > | > Newsgroup messages would be easier and quicker to read if the text of
| > | > each message appeared at the TOP of each message, instead of BELOW the
| > | > text of the previous message(s), which makes it necessary to scroll
| down
| > | > past the previous message(s) before you can read the new message.
| > | >
| > | > Larry
| > | >
| > | >
| > |
| >
|
|
 
Suzanne S. Barnhill said:
Amen. Without wanting to start a top vs. bottom posting flame war, I have to
say that I get very disgusted when I scroll down several screens to find a
one-line comment indistinguishable from the quoted text because it got stuck
into a quote character left over from the quoted portion.
Click to expand...

Awww... I wanna war! (Is this a top or bottom post?) Me, I top post because I'm
lazy. That's the way OE does it. Especially when I have an auto-sig involved,
it's a PITA to move it all to the bottom. On the other hand, UseNet convention
holds that bottom posting is proper, and it *does* tend to encourage trimming.
Plus, it more logically follows the one and only truly *Proper* posting
method--Inline.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Windows 9x

*Recommended Help Sites*
http://www.dts-l.org
http://www.mvps.org
http://www.aumha.org

How to Use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=newswhelp
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
You're quoting understood usenet message protocol. Oldest at top, newest at
bottom.
Then someone mentioned trimming. That can create problems in dropping
important information the orginal or former replies had in their test.
Intent is to create false original information, and a reply that is not
consistent with the actual post. Usually to embarrass the original or a
former reply by malignment of information.
Dave
 
In the Word NGs I cover, I use the Hide Read Messages view. Since I read the
NGs many times a day, I rarely have an entire thread to refer to--only the
most recent post. If the previous thread (or at least some significant part
of it) is not quoted, then I may have no idea what the message is about. If
it's important (someone is replying to me personally for follow-up on advice
I have given, as in the case of Seattle Norm's post about "little tricks"),
then I might go to the trouble of showing all the messages and picking up
the previous thread; mostly I just move on.

OTOH, the thread is usually familiar enough that I don't want to have to
reread the whole thing before getting to the new message at the bottom,
which is why I both top-post and don't trim--both heinous in Usenet terms
but practical for my purposes (especially since I keep copies of all sent
messages and may need to refer to the thread months or years later).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
I agree 100%
Writing and reading will be more effective this way.


--
regards,

|\ /|
| \/ |@rk
\../
\/os
 
Linea said:
I agree 100%
Writing and reading will be more effective this way.
Click to expand...

Not really. Many of those answering the posts prefer bottom-posting so that
we can address issues inline.

Newsgroup messages would be easier to read if posters:
* mentioned the actual products and versions they are having problems with
* used real sentences
* wrote coherently
* answered questions that respondents asked to narrow down the class of
problems
 
I use OE and it defaults to putting my response first, then the quoted
text.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory:
<URL: http://addbalance.com/word/index.htm>

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide)
<URL: http://addbalance.com/usersguide/index.htm>

See also the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
Charles said:
I use OE and it defaults to putting my response first, then the
quoted text.
Click to expand...

The OE-Quotefix tool fixes this and makes other adjustments for easier news
reading.
 
Lil' Dave said:
You're quoting understood usenet message protocol. Oldest at top, newest at
bottom.
Then someone mentioned trimming. That can create problems in dropping
important information the orginal or former replies had in their test.
Intent is to create false original information, and a reply that is not
consistent with the actual post. Usually to embarrass the original or a
former reply by malignment of information.
Dave
Click to expand...
Using OE QuoteFix helps with some of the problems associated with OE such as
putting the reply at the bottom. Also "colours" the thread so it is easier
to follow. This is a free plug in.
 
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