I'm sure this has been addressed before, so forgive me.  I just wore out 
the scroll button on my mouse, spinning down through all the repeated 
text re-posted as replies on threads.  In my mail-reader, I can choose 
to eliminate, retain or edit previous text.  In a few instances, on long 
threads with anonymous titles, it may be helpful to repeat snippets of 
original comments when replying.  But for heaven's sake, can't we just 
post relevant replies without re-posting the entire thread in its 
entirety?  I can't imagine those of you with the little hand-held 
devices and small screens scrolling down through all that redundant 
text.  And those of us who use desktop computers have the simple option 
of deleting previous text and replies.
Sorry if this flames some of you.  I had to buy a new mouse.
Mike Davis
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On Jul 20, 2010, at 5:27 AM, Mike Davis wrote:
<Snip>
Sorry you wore out your mouse. Have you considered using the pageup/pagedown buttons, or maybe the home/end keys?
s.c.f.t.h.i.
A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation
Q: Why is top posting frowned upon?
-
allon
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And the benefit of top posting is that the reader is not required to 
sort through a long list of mindless quoted drivel that has already been 
read and assimilated to find out what you have to say. Which is 
sandwiched in right before all of the end of message add-ons. Prevents 
wearing out the scroll wheel bearings.
I would also suggest purchasing a higher quality mouse.
There is no "rule" on which end to post on and in this day and age of 
reasonably high speed Internet there is not much benefit in drastic 
snipping quoted posts to conserve bandwidth.  The days of the 300 baud 
modem and dial-up are long past.
Allon Stern wrote:
<Snip>
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On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 09:34:08AM -0500, Rich wrote:
<Snip>
That's only an advantage when one encounters a post by someone so
uninterested in conversation that they thoughtlessly leave all that
drivel.
<Snip>
What's "drastic" about snipping material that you think of as mindless
drivel?  Unless you think that your words are no better, but then why
post them at all, top, bottom, or sideways?
                                * * *
I've been mildly surprised for some months now that I've been finding
this mailing list far less interesting overall than SM's web forum.  I
have been using and enjoying mailing lists for decades, and have long
scoffed at web fora as awkward imitations of inferior mail user agents. 
But I have to admit that the absence of top-posting and the often
low-value, unthoughtful posts that it is so often found in may well
explain a lot of it.  It's not just this list either, alas, and you may
be right that there is no longer a clear majority opposed to lazily
posting a trivial thought atop a great heap of mindless quotes.  Isn't
that what Twitter is for?
-- 
People are too impatient.  They want a three-line definition of
consciousness and a five-line proof that a computational system can
or cannot have consciousness.  And they want it today.  They don't want
to have to do the hard work ...  -- Aaron Sloman
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Mike, I am so offended! THIS FLAMES ME!!!
Sorry about the mouse- I got mine for $4.00 from Big Lots- works like a charm, I have had it for like a year now(Only reason I bought it was for playing World of Warcraft in all 
honesty- maybe that is why is has lasted so long). 
-- 
Ryan M. Ward
*Note: This email was sent from a computer running Ubuntu Linux 9.10 (Karmic Koala)http://www.ubuntu.com**Note: This signature was placed here by me and is not automatically-generated-annoying-end-of-email-spam placed here by anyone other than myself. I am a Linux nut and am doing my part to support open source software and the Linux and Ubuntu communities by getting the word out with each email I send, I encourage you to do the same.
<Snip>
The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail.http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multiaccount&ocidD28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_4Homeroast mailing list
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I recommend Gmail for this list.  Gmail threads all conversations with the
same subject line quite neatly, and keeps them in chronological order.
     ---Amy (delurking after a long absence)
On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 8:27 AM, Mike Davis  wrote:
<Snip>
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Seconded...  It also rolls up a lot of the quoted stuff so you see
just the new content.  :)
LarryD
On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 11:24 AM, Amy Bailey  wrote:
<Snip>
the
<Snip>
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But the gmail mobile client doesn't allow editing or omitting quoted text.
Chris
On Jul 22, 2010 10:41 AM, "Larry Dorman"  wrote:
Seconded...  It also rolls up a lot of the quoted stuff so you see
just the new content.  :)
LarryD
On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 11:24 AM, Amy Bailey  wrote:
<Snip>
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Mike Davis had to replace his mouse.  I don't think he's using e-mail on his
phone or other mini-mobile device.
       ---Amy "Sherlock" Bailey  ;)
On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 2:12 PM, Yakster  wrote:
<Snip>
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On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 11:12:22AM -0700, Yakster wrote:
<Snip>
Well, then that's a great excuse for being a lazy, non-trimming
top-poster, innit?  :-)
Seriously, the big problem with gmail is that it's a web page.  It may
be the best web page version of email (or not, I wouldn't know), but
it's still a web page.  Yuck.  Or not, if you've never met anything you
preferred to web-based email, I guess.
-- 
Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive;
easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.  -- Henry Peter Brougham
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Web based e-mail is a crutch for the computer challenged, or for 
emergency use only.
Martin Maney wrote:
<Snip>
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Gmail is my mail God.
Joe
On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 9:24 AM, Amy Bailey  wrote:
<Snip>
-- 
Ambassador for Specialty Coffee and palate reform.
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Regarding "Web based e-mail is a crutch for the computer challenged,
or for emergency use only."
It's not a crutch... it's just the correct tool for the job.  I have
the maximum number of accounts setup in Thunderbird for my normal
e-mail accounts.  However, for a list there really is nothing that
beats gmail.  I've been doing e-mail since well before most people
knew what it was... even before the internet came along...  :)
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It's really handy if you don't have a regular computer or have too many.
Smartphones too.  I'm in the pits at lamans indoor kart racing now.
Chris
On Jul 23, 2010 10:30 AM, "Larry Dorman"  wrote:
Regarding "Web based e-mail is a crutch for the computer challenged,
or for emergency use only."
It's not a crutch... it's just the correct tool for the job.  I have
the maximum number of accounts setup in Thunderbird for my normal
e-mail accounts.  However, for a list there really is nothing that
beats gmail.  I've been doing e-mail since well before most people
knew what it was... even before the internet came along...  :)
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That would be timenet or telnet.  Been there, done that, have the shirt 
and shoes.  And webmail is still a crutch. ;)
But being of the libertarian bent I will not send teh Federal e-mail 
police after you for using it.
Larry Dorman wrote:
<Snip>
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At 02:22 PM 7/23/2010, you wrote:
<Snip>
Or The Source, CIS, BIX, PCBoard or any number of other early 
versions of email.
Ira
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The 2 that I mentioned served as a network carrier to access mainframe 
computers.  The message transport was coincidental to the primary function.
Ira wrote:
<Snip>
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I second that.  Reliable web-based e-mail is fantastic in case of a computer
crash, switching between desktop, laptop, and smartphone, or if you travel
extensively. Checking your web-based e-mail in Lima, Bangkok and Cairo is
relatively easy.
        ---Amy
On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 4:19 PM, Yakster  wrote:
<Snip>
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Fidonet and stand-alone BBSes, actually... :)
At any rate, it doesn't seem like there is nearly as much traffic on
the list as there used to be...  did a bunch of people move to the
bulletin board and no longer post/participate here?  Feel free to
respond above, below, or in-line.  ;)
On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 4:22 PM, Rich  wrote:
<Snip>
 and
<Snip>
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I've been away for a while, but only see 4 threads updated today in the
forum.  Perhaps it's just summer vacation?
     ---Amy
On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 2:08 PM, Larry Dorman  wrote:
<Snip>
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On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 01:08:26PM -0500, Larry Dorman wrote:
<Snip>
Fight-o-net, ah, the memories... the dinners at Kahala... the burned
out node operators... the excessively annoying...
<Snip>
I joined the forum and signed up for this list (1) back around the
beginning of the year (which was also the time I began roasting).  My
expectation was that I'd follow the list and occasionally remember to
look in on the forum, but for some reason it's the other way around. 
Perhaps it's that the forum, despite the drawback of being a web
imitation of a mailing list (2), helps enough by encouraging the
separation of topics to make it easier for me to skip over, eg.,
espresso discussions, or the how to clean up the Behmor after a fire
threads.  (both of which I do read, but I can skip over them and others
when I don't have time to spend on things that are, for me, less
relevant)  Or maybe it's just that I happened along at the right time
to fall in with a bunch of folks who enjoy chatting about coffee and
bits of life that intersect our roasting, brewing, etc.
Or maybe it's that I'm never annoyed by top posting or seven-reply
deep piles of irrelevant quoted text in the forum. ;-)
(1) BTW, I'm not quite sure how I found the list back then.  When
someone asked about it recently, I couldn't find any mention of it at
SM's site.  I mention this becuase it just might have something to do
with declining interest in the list, if there is in fact such decline.
(2) assuming you have a simple traffic sorting .procmailrc or
equivalent and a decent threading MUA.  Lacking those, I guess a web
board might be better, or gmail, even though the thought of the latter
squicks me. :-)
-- 
If the best we can do is make technology as dangerous, non-robust,
capricious, arcane, alienating, marginal, and costly as "magic",
then we have really crappy technology.  -- goliard
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