[common] To put the newly-added portion of an email or Usenet
response before the quoted part, as opposed to the more logical sequence of
quoted portion first with original following. The problem with this
practice is neatly summed up by the following FAQ entry:
A: No.
Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?
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This term is generally used pejoratively with the implication that
the offending person is a newbie, a Microsoft addict
(Microsoft mail tools produce a similar format by default), or simply a
common-and-garden-variety idiot.
One major problem with top-posting is that people who do it all too
frequently quote the entire parent message rather than
trimming it down to those portions relevent to their reply — this
makes threads bulky and unnecessarily difficult to read and arouses the
righteous ire of experienced Internet residents (this style is called
“TOFU” for “text over, fullquote under”, or
sometimes “jeopardy-style quoting”). Another problem is that
top-posters often word their replies on the assumption that you just read
the previous message, even though their perversity has put it further down
the page than you have yet read. Oppose
bottom-post.
