"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...
"Steve House" wrote:

I'm using OE at
the moment

the big outing?

on a cable connect that the test on BandwidthPlace reports is
currently running 2.4 megabits / sec. Even that speed doesn't justify
grabbing all the bodies off a newsgroup to read the ones I might be

well, there are many out there going online and pay per time. And while
online they have a lousy modem connection.
I have a dedicated access in my office, but only modem at home.


interested in. DL just the fresh headers when opening a group and a
click
on a header of interest dl's and loads the message body with a time lag
that
is just fractionally longer than if it was already on disk. IMHO, one
of
the main benefits of high bandwidth full time connections is that it
allows
you to work online in real time. That is, BTW, also an advantage of top
posting

?
top
the
to
bottom
from
read
you
do
or
good,
very
really
not
are
postings
Top

I read from the top down, but I prefer to read the instant poster's comments
is a single, cohesive, contiguous block of text rather than interspersed
within with the text being responded to. Whether it's at the top or the
bottom of the message thread is generally irrelevant - what is more
important is it is clearly and distinctly differentiated from the messages
that came before and not interwoven within them. Allthough top posting does
make it a lot easier to find. Top posting reads well from the top down,
each message block following below another being one step father back into
the history of the thread. The first message in line is the one being
replied to, the next is the one that the number 2 position was responding
to, that in turn is the the response to the next previous and so forth. I
submit to you that is a more clearly delineated chain of logic than a
message that jumps about at random, the chain forms more of a sequence of
episodes developing logically over time. Top posting reminds me more of a
formal seminar or a n initial premis - supporting evidence - conclusion
style of structured presentation - interwoven posting reminds me of a
cocktail party where everyone is talking at once.