It’s really a mess
Disclaimer: this is a rant.
Disclaimer²: Although I included fedora mailing list guidelines, this message is not only for fedora people (most of them should read).
Premise: Bad quoting is one of the reason I skip messages.
I’m paladin of “good quoting” (and, if I’m bothering you I don’t care 
), and I’m getting sick reading long threaded discussion where email is continuously raped by “I need to reply fast” or “this si more simple” stupid philosophy.
Please…..Please read and apply these few rules. I assure the world will be better, the entropy will increase less. But please, read it.
The most important rule you must apply is this:
Make sure we can tell what you are replying to. Place each part of your reply after the text it addresses (i.e., NO Top-Posting, please see “Wikipedia – Top Posting” and links therein for more on this). Most mail readers automatically put a ‘>’ character in front of each replied-to line. It gives a conversational flow to the text, and people know what you’re replying to. Trim irrelevant material. It makes it easier to read your reply and helps the reader to stay on subject.
You may change the world…remember 
Absolutely! Some messages on fedora-devel are horrible. Even with a reasonably large message view window you actually have to scroll down see anything at all except quoted text. I usually just don’t read such messages at all.
Alexander Boström
March 2, 2009 at 4:58 pm