Re: Question about divergent series

In article <627k725knq05ca4c4gcnii06lcl5i33os1@xxxxxxx>, quasi
<quasi@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

....

Please don't top post -- the standard in sci.math is to reply either
at the bottom or else after the parts of the prior post to which your
reply relates.

There's nothing in the charter for sci.math about top-posting. There
are a few individuals on the web who deem themselves arbiters of
netiquette, who state that you shouldn't top-post. It's rather like
the rule that you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition, or
shouldn't use split infinitives--these were made up out of whole cloth
by self-appointed grammarians during the 18th century, catering to the
desire of a newly burgeoning middle class to seem to be among the
educational elite. Those rules hadn't existed before that. And they
lead to cumbersome circumlocutions, and we'd be much better off junking
them.

In fact, I **prefer** top-posting. I'm usually familiar with the
earlier parts of a thread, and I don't appreciate re-reading (and
re-reading, and re-reading...) the posts I've ALREADY digested, just to
[eventually] see whether the current poster has added any real content
to the thread. (Usually not!) The top-post IMMEDIATELY shows me the
new idea, and if I do happen to need context, I can go down through the
post, to see what he was replying to, and what THAT person was replying
to, etc. And if the idea is crap, I can stop reading right there.

It's more awkward to MIX top- and bottom-posting. I'm convinced this
happens because the preference of particular newsreaders is to do one
or the other--not from any vindictive or contrarian feeling on the part
of posters.

In any case, my motto is: live and let live.

--
Ron Bruck

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