Darragh wrote:
> Could you do me a huge favour, please don't put quotes before your
> reply.
No, I don't think this is a good idea. The "Outlook way" of including
the message being replied to at the end of the article ("top-posting")
breaks up the flow of conversation and destroys context.
Almost as bad, however, is the practise of including the *entire*
original message being replied to before posting one's reply. By far
the best way, in my opinion, is to include the original message,
highlighted by "> " at the start of the line, *edit out* any parts
which aren't pertinent, and reply to the relevant bits inline. This
way, the email exchange comes to resemble a conversation, which is a
vastly more natural communication forum than "see above/see below"
references.
> It means that people using screen readers have to read the same
> message twice before getting to your message.
As has been pointed out, there are readers which can be instructed to
(for example) ignore all lines beginning with ">". I suggest that
these be investigated before attempting to change an email convention
which has persisted for almost thirty years now...
Colm
--
Colm Buckley | colm at tuatha.org | +353 87 2469146 | www.colm.buckley.name
You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
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