[school-discuss] Meta-communication: About Top/Bottom posting

[Bill Barowy <wbarowy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday 18 January 2006 2:49 pm, hans paijmans wrote:
> Bill Barowy wrote:
> > Just a couple of counter-points to the tradition of bottom posting that
> > is sometimes evoked when someone top posts.
>
> I feel very much that this topic does not add in any way to the
> appropriate topics on
> this list...

It's a form of meta-talk (lemke, "talking science", see also MAK Halliday) 
i.e. talking about talk, or in this case writing about writing,  which 
performs regulatory functions in communication.  Apart from other processes 
such as moderation, this kind of social and self regulation facilitates  the 
communication of "official" topics.

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