>> Of course people know what you are replying to, and if they have 
>> forgotten
>> (eg a reply to an email from weeks or months ago) then they just read 
>> below
>> to see what the previous message was.
>
>  And if in the typical top-posting style the quote below is 50 pages long,
> they can easily find the single line to which this poster is replying to.

I don't know any emails we have here that are 50 pages long.  If it's longer 
than a paragraph or two it's usually too importnant for an email and better 
explained and archived in a word or powerpoint document.  And the subject 
being discussed/replied to is in the subject line.  Unlike newsgroup posts, 
email conversations don't usually go off-topic from when they started.

>  And he would have to read the entire thread in reverse order, from bottom
> to top, which is exactly what the signature I quoted criticizes. You are
> just proving my point.

But that is a minor occurance compared to everyone else who reads every 
email.  Why force everyone else to follow an awkward process for every 
email, just so that Bob can read the history in top-to-bottom order, should 
he wish to do so?

Post a reply to this message