Editing Posting style (section)

=== Interleaved style ===
<!-- This section is linked from [[Netiquette]] -->

In the interleaved reply style (also called "inline reply", "interlined reply", "point-by-point rebuttal", or, sometimes, "bottom posting"), the original message is broken into two or more sections, each followed by a specific reply or comment.  A reply in inline style may also include some [[#Top-posting|top-posted]] or [[#Bottom-posting|bottom-posted]] comments that apply to the whole reply message, rather than to a specific point.  For example:

 I have been following the discussion about the new product line. Here are my thoughts.
 <br>
 Joe wrote:
 <span style="color:red">
 > Will our prices be competitive?</span>
 <br>
 That may not be a problem for now, we still have a quality edge.
 <span style="color:red">
 > We do not have enough trained people on the West Coast. We have many
 > new employees but they do not know our products yet.</span>
 <br>
 We can bring them here for a crash training course.
 <br>
 Mary wrote:
 <span style="color:red">
 > We still do not have a clear marketing plan. </span>
 <br>
 Peter, would you take charge of that? Let me know if you need help.
 <br>
 On the whole, I am quite optimistic.  It looks like we will be shipping
 the basic system before the end of this quarter.
 Nancy

The interleaved reply style can also be combined with top-posting: selected points are quoted and replied to, as above, and then a full copy of the original message is appended.

 > Can you present your report an hour later?
 <br>
 Yes I can. The summary will be sent no later than 5pm.
 Jim
 <br>
 At 10.01am Wednesday, Danny wrote:<span style="color:blue">
 >> 2.00pm: Present report</span><span style="color:red">
 > Jim, I have a meeting at that time. Can you present your report an hour later?
 ></span><span style="color:blue">
 >> 4.30pm: Send out summary of feedback</span><span style="color:red">
 > Also if you do the above, this may need to happen later too.
 > Danny
 >
 > At 9.40am Wednesday, Jim wrote:</span><span style="color:blue">
 >> My schedule for today will be:
 >> 10.00am: Gather data for report
 >> 2.00pm: Present report to team
 >> 4.30pm: Send out summary of feedback
 >> Jim</span>

Interleaving was the predominant reply style in the [[Usenet]] discussion lists, years before the existence of the [[WWW]] and the spread of [[e-mail]] and the [[Internet]] outside the academic community.<ref name="interleave standard">Archives of Usenet posts at [[Google Groups]] prior to the [[WWW|beginning of the WWW]] (1993).</ref>

Interleaving was also common originally in e-mail, because many internet users had been exposed to Usenet newsgroups and other [[Internet forum]]s, where it is still used.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} The style became less common for email after the opening of the internet to commercial and non-academic personal use.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} One possible reason is the large number of casual e-mail users that entered the scene at that time.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}  Another possible reason is the inadequate support provided by the reply function of some [[webmail]] readers, which either do not automatically insert a copy of the original message into the reply, or do so without any quoting prefix [[#Quoted line prefix|level indicators]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}  Finally, most forums, wiki discussion pages, and [[blog]]s (such as [[Slashdot]]) essentially impose the bottom-post format, by displaying all recent messages in chronological order.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}. Interleaving continues to be used on technical mailing lists where clarity within complex threads is important.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}.