[asterisk-users] Top Posting

[Patrick Lists]

On 01/02/2013 07:11 PM, Carlos Alvarez wrote:
> The number of questions posted here that are easily answered with a
> search or which are far too basic and open (how do I make Asterisk work)
> is very high these days, and that does kill a list.  A lot of us are
> interested in helping people who help themselves, and solving complex
> problems.  I've seen many tech lists die off when people stop trying to
> help themselves and ask intelligent questions.

Good point Carlos and I share your feeling. On the Postfix mailing list, 
when someone asks a basic "how do I ..." question, inevitably the 
response is one or more links to a section in the documentation. And 
that works really well. The interesting problems discussed on that ML 
outnumber the questions from those who can't be bothered to try to help 
themselves by spending a couple of minutes reading the docs. I would 
welcome similar responses on this mailing list to improve the S/N ratio.

> As to top-posting, another example of when I think it's generally
> acceptable is people using tablets.  I have found no way on either my
> iOS or Android tablets to quickly/easily post in the traditional manner.
>   If I'm faced with spending a few minutes carefully trimming a useful
> reply or just not posting it at all, I'm likely to choose the latter if
> I'm on a list that says "absolutely never" top post.

I only use Thunderbird to post but I now have seen several arguments 
that MUAs like Outlook and iOS/Android clients are simply  not capable 
of bottom posting & trimming. Perhaps the list admins could take that 
into account when appropriate.

Regards,
Patrick