D. Spencer Hines wrote:

NOTE: The following UNLRELATED newsgroup was removed from my reply
because Outlook has nothing to do with newsgroups which is the only
place of concern regarding top- versus bottom-posting:
- Removed: microsoft.public.outlook.general

Microsoft has employed the Top Posting Protocol for Outlook Express and
Windows Live Mail -- and presumably for Outlook as well. I don't use
Outlook, yet.

Top- and bottom-posting are not protocols. They are *styles*. It's up
to you what style you want to use. Some newsreaders (where only top-
versus bottom-posting is a heated issue) let you select which style you
want to use. OE does, too, but not through a UI config screen. Since
Windows XP service pack 2, there has been a registry edit that lets you
change from the default top-posting style of OE to switch to bottom-
posting style (and another registry edit to decide where to put the
signatu before or after the quoted content in a reply).

[Although WLM offers a choice of Top or Bottom Posting...]

Yep, Window Live Mail moved the registry settings to UI config screens
to make it easier and safer to make those choices.

I think it's definitely the Right Way To Go.

There are lots of arguing about whether top- or bottom-posting should be
used. I'm not going through to rehash all those arguments again.
However, what you SHOULD do is *retain* the same style in your replies
(and in your editing of the quoted content to maintain that same order).
If you are the first to reply (in a subthread) then you get to choose to
use top- or bottom-posting. Everyone thereafter that replies in that
same subthread should be polite in using the same style. There is no
RFC standard to specify a header where the original poster can request a
particular posting style be used in replies, so it is really up to the
first respondent in a subthread to establish the style in that
subthread. If you are stubborn and want to force your own style then
make sure you edit the quoted content so all of the other posts you are
quoting are also in the same order as is your reply style. Don't simply
be quoting the other posts in some jumbled mess of mixed top- and
bottom-posting order. As you are expected to snip the quoted content to
provide enough context for your reply, you are also expected to sort the
quoted content into the same style that you use in your reply. If you
want to argue for a particular order then DO IT yourself within your own
reply posts!

Put the New Material at the TOP.

But then why bother top-posting? Since the idea is that you expect no
one to read the quoted content below your reply to provide context for
your reply then there is no point in quoting at all. Just reply without
any quoting (which makes top- versus bottom-posting completely
irrelevant).

Saves time and effort for witting, alert, intelligent readers.

Oh, your argument (used by many for top-posting) is that you are a lazy
poster and simply use whatever style for your replies that your
newsreader defaults to (although, as shown, you DO have the option even
in OE to change style). So if you are too lazy to use your own style
then we can also assume that you are too lazy to edit the quoted content
to reorder them in the same order as your chosen style, and that you are
too lazy to snip the fluff from the quoted content to provide only the
sufficient level of context for your own reply. And we should care
about the wants of lazy posters' why?

But will Microsoft have the courage to continue to endorse Top Posting in
the face of so many outcries from Yahoo Bottom Posters?

Um, OE has defaulted to top-posting since it existed as Internet Mail &
News and after Microsoft acquired it and eventually renamed to Outlook
Express. So Microsoft *does* endorsed top-posting style in OE.
Microsoft doesn't generate Usenet standards (whether by RFC or as de
facto standards) and their service pack 2 to provide registry edits for
OE and providing those config settings in the UI dialogs for WLM was
Microsoft acknowledging that perhaps they didn't make the correct
choice.

Let's Hope So...

Let's hope you decide not to be a lazy poster. Even if you elect to
top-post (which is relevant only to replies), let's hope that you
maintain the same posting order as established by a prior respondent
(unless you happen to the be the first one in a subthread), and let's
hope that you reorder the quoted content to match your posting style,
and let's hope you learn how to snip the quoted content to provide only
sufficient context for your own replies.