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Posted by Derek Janssen on 05/24/07 17:30
elrous0@pop.uky.edu wrote:
>
> You know, I have been on Usenet since 1994 and this "top posting"
> criticism, and the insane level of vitriol attached to it, still
> puzzles me. Am I missing something? What the Hell difference does it
> make whether someone posts a response at the top or bottom of the text
> they're quoting? Unless they're responding to a post on a point-by-
> point basis, what difference does it make?
>
> I do remember, back in the days when even ASCII bandwidth was
> precious, people objected to posters quoting the WHOLE previous post.
> But this isn't much of an issue anymore. And if you ARE going to quote
> the whole previous post, then top-posting would seem logical (since no
> one using an older newsreader that doesn't automatically recognize
> quoted text would want to have to scroll all the way to the bottom of
> a long post just to read your response).
Also, generally speaking, when a troll starts to sense that he's losing
his "core" fanbase and being in danger of shunned, netcopping, or
otherwise finally losing his reliable daily meal-ticket, it's usually
the same pattern:
The troll starts "digging in the trenches", getting ready for a long
defensive that will focus the attention on *him*, instead of what he
hoped were going to be "stealth" posts, and begins fantasizing that he
is an invaluable part of the group--
He's already convinced himself, and now tries to convince anyone who
bothers to talk to him, that he is the SOLE DEVOTED GUARDIAN to What
This Group Is About...And will snap at any "foreign" crossposter,
burn-the-witch any off-topic thread, and tell any deviator from format
that there's only *one* way we post round these parts, pardner!
While, if he's even lucky to get that much attention anymore, maybe one
of the other actual posters apologizes to newbies, saying, "Oh, don't
pay any attention, he thinks he's a regular..."
And again, it's any troll will fall back on "Group purity" delusions,
but you can always single-out that particular old-old-OLD-skool
geriatric 90's-geezer trying to bring back that faraway decade he loved,
by his "B-but...he TOP-POSTED, people, everyone always gets mad at that,
don't they...nowadays?..."
Derek Janssen
ejanss@comcast.
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