Cobol - OT - Off-Topic

Author

OT - Off-Topic

William M. Klein

2005-12-06, 6:55 pm

Am I the only one "amused" that a thread with the subject line of

"Making Money from Java"

has turned into a "religious war" (well, not exactly a war, but ...)

***

As usual, if you are changing the topic of a thread, you might want to consider
(and I personally would appreciate it) if you changed the subject to reflect the
actual topic under discussion.

--
Bill Klein
wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com

Pete Dashwood

2005-12-07, 6:55 pm

"William M. Klein" <wmklein@nospam.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:LOnlf.328569$dZ.133715@fe02.news.easynews.com...
> Am I the only one "amused" that a thread with the subject line of
>
> "Making Money from Java"
>
> has turned into a "religious war" (well, not exactly a war, but ...)
>
> ***
>
> As usual, if you are changing the topic of a thread, you might want to
> consider (and I personally would appreciate it) if you changed the subject
> to reflect the actual topic under discussion.
>
> --
> Bill Klein
> wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com
>

Pete Dashwood

2005-12-07, 6:55 pm

Bill,

How long have you been contributing to this forum?

How many threads have you seen remain on topic for more than 30 posts?

When there is nothing left to say about COBOL, the off topic posts are
probably more interesting than the on topic ones.

I believe this forum caters for the needs of a number of people at different
levels; it isn't just about COBOL. It would be nice if OT posts were marked
OT but, despite repeated requests, people don't do it and, as it is
unmoderated, there is no way to enforce it.

None of us are forced to come here. I find that pressure of work (not at the
moment; I'm enjoying the sunshine back in my beloved Bay of Plenty, until
resuming work on the 4th Jan) keeps me out of here and , although I enjoy
visiting, I won't be spending as much time here as I have in the past.
Fortunately, that is no bad thing for me or CLC... :-)

Yes, there are tedious, pointless, off topic discussions here. But we know
that before we come.

There are also the occasional flashes of wit, insight, and humour, not to
mention actually getting information (not necessarily about COBOL) that make
it worth the visit, in my opinion.

Pete.

TOP POST nothing else below, so I snipped it... :-).

Alistair

2005-12-11, 6:55 pm

Pete Dashwood wrote:
> There are also the occasional flashes of wit, insight, and humour, not to
> mention actually getting information (not necessarily about COBOL) that make
> it worth the visit, in my opinion.
>
> Pete.
>
> TOP POST nothing else below, so I snipped it... :-).

Can someone remind me, was the consensus of opinion in favour of
top-posters, bottom-posters or inbetween-posters in this ng? IIRC,
Pete, you were a rabid top-poster?

Alistair

2005-12-11, 6:55 pm

Alistair wrote:
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
>
> Can someone remind me, was the consensus of opinion in favour of
> top-posters, bottom-posters or inbetween-posters in this ng? IIRC,
> Pete, you were a rabid top-poster?

Whoops, I should have altered the heading to OT: OT: Off-Topic.

Richard

2005-12-11, 6:55 pm

> Can someone remind me, was the consensus of opinion in favour of
> top-posters, bottom-posters or inbetween-posters in this ng? IIRC,
> Pete, you were a rabid top-poster?

Consensus ? I don't think so.

The issue is not actually about 'top posting' or 'bottom posting' but
the trimming of irrelevant stuff and leaving in just the parts that you
are replying to.

Some news group programs dump the whole message in as a quote and put
the cursor at the top. If the replyer simply types what they want to
say the messages get longer and longer and inverted, with most of it a
waste of space. Some times it is difficult to know what they are
replying to.

It is also annoying to wade through pages of quotes to see if there is
any further reply.

Pete Dashwood

2005-12-12, 3:55 am

Ah, Alastair, your memory serves you poorly... I am not a rabid anything.

I use both styles depending on whether I wish to respond in context or not.

If I don't, (as in this case), I'll probably top post. However, I know some
people get very cranky about this, so I mark such posts as TOP POSTs.

In general, the signature on a post from me means I have put nothing
underneath that.

I have always believed content to be more important than form, and choice
and diversity at least as important as either of them. :-)

Pete.

TOP POST nothing new below...

"Alistair" <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1134311935.505312.197900@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>
> Pete Dashwood wrote:
>
> Can someone remind me, was the consensus of opinion in favour of
> top-posters, bottom-posters or inbetween-posters in this ng? IIRC,
> Pete, you were a rabid top-poster?
>
>

Howard Brazee

2005-12-12, 6:55 pm

On 11 Dec 2005 06:38:55 -0800, "Alistair"
<alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Can someone remind me, was the consensus of opinion in favour of
>top-posters, bottom-posters or inbetween-posters in this ng? IIRC,
>Pete, you were a rabid top-poster?

The best thing: Pretend that you are someone browsing through
messages and not really interested in figuring out context of
messages.

Leave enough information so that this browser knows what you're
talking about. Don't make him page down to the bottom to find out if
this message is worth reading. Don't make him page down to learn the
context of your reply.

Just edit as though you were writing a newspaper column with questions
and answers.

Common sense and consideration don't need absolute rules.

Alistair

2005-12-13, 7:55 am

Pete Dashwood wrote:
> Ah, Alastair, your memory serves you poorly... I am not a rabid anything.
>

My memory is indeed poor. So who was the guilty party?

> I have always believed content to be more important than form, and choice
> and diversity at least as important as either of them. :-)
>
> Pete.
>

Good reply.

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