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********
!!! Why Top Posting Has Won - 2018/06/13

I've recently realised that, in my head, there's a connection
between top-posting in email and washing the dishes. Stay
with me, I'll see if I can make the connection for you.

One of the things that confused and annoyed me as I was
growing up was that proverbs contradicted each other. So for
example we have "Look before you leap", but we also have "He
who hesitates is lost." We have "Absence makes the heart
grow fonder", but we also have "Out of sight, out of mind".

And so on.  */So/* frustrating.

It wasn't until some years later that I realised that
proverbs aren't in fact intended to capture and express
universal truths. Proverbs are a neat, slick, and easy way of
expressing those thoughts you already have. Proverbs are a
way of avoiding work while still communicating your thoughts.

But part of the problem I then see with proverbs is that they can
act as "thought terminating cliches". You trot out the proverb,
and then no one has to think any more. Everything is done, dusted,
complete, clear, and finished. They come as self-contained little
nuggets that are left unexamined and unchallenged. Whereas often
they should be used as a starting point for further discussion.

So, for example, I remember putting off a particular task
and I was admonished with "A stitch in time saves nine."
Never mind that I didn't actually understand what they were
trying to communicate, it turns out that while this piece
of wisdom seems unassailable, it's not necessarily right.

To see that, let's start by looking at what it is actually
trying to say. You have a garment, and a seam has popped, or is
starting to fray. There's a danger that it will unravel, and
then fixing it could take significantly greater effort. So the
idea is that if you attend to it now you can forestall that and
save yourself potentially large amounts of work. A single stitch
now (although obviously it might actually be more than /one/
stitch) can save having to do many stitches later. A stitch now
avoids many stitches later. Hence a stitch in time saves nine.

But actually the garment might /not/ unravel, and by doing the
work now you are losing the opportunity to do other things
that might potentially be more valuable, or more rewarding. So
it's not a foregone conclusion that this is the right thing to
be doing, even though the proverb closes down all discussion.

And human nature being what it is, we will /always/ tend to put
off unpleasant, uninteresting, or unrewarding tasks, even on those
occasions when they /will/ save the total time and work expended
overall. So even though leaving the dishes results in more work
because the food ends up dried on, there's still a tendency to
leave the washing up to later. Of course in that case there really
is no advantage to postponement, because the work /will/ have to
be done, but in other cases the work might become irrelevant or
otherwise unnecessary, so postponement can actually make sense.

With me so far?

"Yes" you reply, "But what's the connection with top-posting?"

Top posting is where you reply to an email by putting your
comment at the top, and leaving the entire email - possibly an
entire thread - below and intact. To do so is quick, simple,
and easy for you, the sender. And when the thread is short,
possibly just a single email, it's easy for the receiver
to see the context, and to know to what you are replying.

But when the thread is long, and when your reply is to a point
deeper inside, suddenly the receiver has to do a lot of work. You,
the sender, have saved yourself time, but the receiver has to do
more work than you have saved. Potentially a /*lot*/ more work.

So top-posting makes sense while the thread is short, but ceases
to make sense when the discussion grows and becomes complex.
The problem is that that's */exactly/* when the thread needs
to be distilled, and replies need to be made /*in*place,*/
to make it clear what you are commenting on, or replying to.

But by the time the thread has grown to a point where this
becomes effectively essential, it's too late. Without putting in
the effort all the way through, it's impossible to recover the
situation, and even /*more*/ time is spent trying to understand
the thread, to untangle the points, and to find meaning.

So top-posting is a form of procrastination. It's a method whereby
the sender avoids doing any work in the hope that no work will
be needed. And to be fair, often it isn't. But sometimes it is,
and in those cases I curse top-posting, and desperately wish that
the earlier internet norm of in-line posting was still prevalent.

But that won't happen. It's too late. Some email clients
make it nearly impossible to use in-line replies, and
people just won't do it. People won't do work unless
it's rewarding, or compulsory. Human nature tells us that
top-posting will always win unless some form of in-line posting
becomes (a) painless, (b) compulsory, and (c) rewarding.

I'm working on that.

----
You can read more about posting styles here:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

----

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