Stupid netiquette question

"Wayne Knight" wrote in
:

Not even sure, don't care really, if i spelled it right but for the
net nannies:

After snipping and replying to usenet posts for some time now, I agree
top posting is a pain in the arse to follow at times, but why is top
posting such a usenet no-no when responding to email, top posting is
quite common and acceptable?

A dummie wants to know



Mostly history. Usenet began in the day of text terminals, or even
teletypes! With top posting, you'd have to page through the most recent
post to see what the hell the person was referring to, and going back to
the top of the post was a PITA.

Nowadays, w/ graphics terminals, paging back and forth is easier on most,
but not all, newsreaders. The bigger problems comes in forming a cohesive
reply post when some people have top posted, and some have bottom posted,
according to preference. Best to have all people posting one way, and
bottom is the historical preference

Scott