On the issue of top-replying
I recently read a post on Signal vs. Noise that discussed top-replying to emails (i.e. when you respond to an email, you type your response above a full, un-edited copy of the email to which you’re responding).
Techies tend to mix their responses with the quoted copy of the email instead of typing a chunk of text on top and calling it done. They also tend to get nasty when they receive emails that have not followed this procedure. Non-techies tend to top-reply.
Like many of the folks who commented to the SvN post I’m finding it difficult to continue with the cumbersome process of the mix-responses-in-quoted-emails approach. I’m also finding it more difficult to justify doing so. Top-replying communicates your thoughts more quickly than the hunt and peck method favored by techies. It’s also the response method used by the majority of the folks I encounter.
I think I may need to switch gears. Effective today, I’m doing top-replies.
And to all my techie friends who object… You’ll be alright.
