<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On 9 Dec 2009, at 12:58, Jack Matier wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Do I form a reply at the bottom or the top?<br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>I don't know who originally wrote this piece of wisdom, but I found it at <a href="http://www.idallen.com/topposting.html">http://www.idallen.com/topposting.html</a>: </div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif, georgia; "><pre> A: Because we read from top to bottom, left to right. Q: Why should I start my reply below the quoted text? A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: The lost context. Q: What makes top-posted replies harder to read than bottom-posted? A: Yes. Q: Should I trim down the quoted part of an email to which I'm replying? </pre><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Optima"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, arial, helvetica, sans-serif, georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><br></span></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, arial, helvetica, sans-serif, georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;">(And to Rob McBroom, thanks for the pointer to quotefixformac!)</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="monospace, arial, helvetica, sans-serif, georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><br></span></font></div></span></div></div><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Optima; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#00000000"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; "><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">-- </span></font></i></span></font></div><div><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Steve King</span></font></i></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div><div><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Sr. Software Engineer</span></font></i></div><div><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Arbor Networks</span></font></i></div><div><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">+1 734 821 1461</span></font></i></div><div><a href="http://www.arbornetworks.com/"><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">www.arbornetworks.com</span></font></i></a></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div> <br></body></html>