Regarding top posting versus bottom posting, pretty almost everyone who has commented agrees that top versus bottom posting isn't the problem. It's laziness about editing, perhaps exacerbated by certain email systems that encourage that laziness.
So how about this: instead of demanding "PLEASE DON'T TOP POST," why not suggest, "PLEASE EDIT FOR BREVITY (and keep your comments in context by bottom posting)."
It really would improve these Postgres conversations.
Cheers, Craig
(... and this illustrates the art of paraphrasing. In many instances, a quick paraphrase summarizing the issue is far better than quoting.)