<OT> yet more Gmail invites

[Aakin N. Patel]

: While I don't want to be subversive and will live by the rules of the
: list to the best of my knowledge, when was this consensus achieved?
: Have the technologies taken great strides since then and are they widely
: used and available?

I think it became the more appreciated method back when everyone
used newsgroups as a major source of communication. In a very long
thread, it was easier (atleast from my point of view) to follow
conversations via bottom-posts. 

I think a lot of that was due to the discussion nature of most
newsgroups... a lot of threads divered into point-by-point
discussions/disections of posts, and it seemed to be natural at the time
to do that via responding directly below the point you were
supporting/refuting.

: I appreciate that some technologies are just so ingrained in some of us,
: eg. I use VI whenever possible.  But sometimes the consensus is reached
: in different times, such as when BBSes or Dialup Internet was the
: standard for everyone.  While I don't want to disgrace text-MUAs which
: allow beter flexibility on local, Thunderbird, Evolution, and Sylpheed
: excel in these types of areas.  And what is the majority of the populus
: using and what do we collectively think?

I use mutt... it's the easiest way to check mail from anywhere. It's
fast, and I can carry the client for it (putty) on a usb key. That's 
incredibly convinient to me.

Also, I've found little else that threads as well as mutt does, for
some obscure reason. Being that it is OS'ed code, you'd think someone
would have used their threading routines in their own mail programs.

Speed is a serious factor. I have mail archives going back to 1993...
it takes a hugely long time for a graphical client to load up a 4
gig mail file. I get somewhat frustrated by the 30 seconds it takes
in mutt on the occaisions I have to restart the client... can't 
imagine dealing with it every time I check mail, especially if I was 
using something like evolution all the time. 

: I do not wish to necessarily change things.  These traditions are
: comfortable and memorable.  Just to recognize that sometimes things
: *should* change and don't.
: 
: Again, I don't care enough about these things to hinder relations or
: break the rules.  My tendencies are to top-post as I almost did this
: time.  It comes from using Lotus Notes too long.  :)

Heh. Mine are to bottom post, due to the reasons described above. I find
it does help tremendously in disecting a conversation and responding to
individual points coherently, but that's just a factor of the way my
brain works, I guess. It's not that hard to follow either method. I
just respond in the method that's easier for me, and sometimes other
people do the same; otherwise, I do a quick mental translation and it's
still all good.

							- Aakin