The Coordination Problem
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- Both systems economize reader's time.
- In the inline style, you have to read to the bottom to get all the
new information. The quoted context may not be 100% needed, but it
doesn't cost the reader too much.
- In the top-posting style, there is never new information below the
first line of quotes.
- But this works only if all participants use the same style.
- If the reader expects inline, but the message is a top-post, the
reader wastes time reading to the bottom.
- If the reader expects top-posting, but the message is in inline
style, the reader may not see all the information.
- This is an example of a coordination problem.
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