>Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>>>>>Is is proper etiquette to include your comments at the top of a message you are replying to, or at the bottom?
>>>>
>>>>Personally it doesn't matter one way or the other as long as the thread is kept chronological. It's annoying when people insist on putting their reply at the top (or more rarely the bottom) even if the previous posts have been top-to-bottom. The sequence quickly becomes lost.
>>>>
>>>>I also like a little pruning when threads grow lengthy. Maybe not quite to the extent advocated by Craig, but when a thread has been banging around since Clinton was president and every post is still included in the latest reply, it's a bit much. (And then you scroll all the way down to the bottom and the latest reply is a one liner.... LOL)
>>>
>>>I *try* to follow the previous posters. If everyone has posted at the bottom, then the thread reads top to bottom chronologically. If the previous poster posted at the top, I try to follow that. However, if a thread is *really* long, I'll just give up and post at the top. Some threads are so long it is annoying to scroll all the way down to see the last response. The most annoying is a *really* long thread where the last response was posted in numerous locations in-line. It can be very difficult to determine which comment that poster is replying to unless the writing is highlited somehow. It would be easier if everything was stripped out except for his/her comments and the comments he/she is replying to specifically. That's only for long threads though.
>>>

Maybe the real problem is this site is filled with troublemakers ;-)

>>>My preference would be posts exist bottom-up. Everyone post at the top so it is chronological bottom->up. You only have to scroll down if you are interested in the full thread. I have noticed that sometimes when info is stripped out or some post top and some post bottom eventually someone gets 'who wrote what' confused. (read: me) :o) However, that is not realistic and everyone seems to follow their own personal preference or what was done before them in the same thread.
>>>
>>>It surely must be a good 'mind-exercise' trying to decipher some of these posts! Like a puzzle... :o)
>>
>>Yes, it is. I was just thinking about it and think I know how these twisted threads happen. In the beginning, when the first person replies in a new thread, most of us will put our reply below the original post. Politer and less egotistical that way. And for a while people add on at the bottom. After a while, though, the thread grows lengthy and there is a great temptation to post at the top. Then it's Katie bar the door ;-)
>>
>>I do think the custom of many UT users to leave every last post in the quoteback is a factor, like they would be killing a child or something to trim the old ones that are no longer pertinent to the current discussion. With some appropriate trimming we could all just reply at the bottom and there wouldn't be any confusion. For anyone who really wants to go back and check what Aunt Mabel said last Tuesday, the UT provides tools to do so.