[Libav-user] How to add proprietary encoder like x264 to the FFmpeg

[Nicolas George]

Le tridi 3 messidor, an CCXXII, Bradley O'Hearne a écrit :
> It isn’t rude. It never has been rude. Sometime after the first fifty
> times I saw the issue of “top-posting” being made an issue above the
> actual questions being asked I decided to go out to Wikipedia and read the
> rationale for this “rude” business so I could be a good citizen, to find
> that it isn’t any kind of Internet standard, it is an artifact from old
> Usenet days, and that while still the tradition on some mailing lists
> (like FFmpeg) that will get you flamed, it is not by any means the most
> common approach for replying on mailing lists or forums.

I feel like explaining today.

If you occasionally watch TV series, you may have noticed that some of them
have a short "previously on <insert title here>" segment to refresh the
memory of the viewers. You may notice that this segment is at the beginning
of each episode, and is made of selected relevant excerpts. What it is
definitely not is a full rerun of the previous episode at the end of the
current one.

Objectively, the easiest mail to read is one that starts with a well-trimmed
quotations of the discussion, and then the answer (or with interleaving if
it is long), because you get exactly the information you need in the order
you need it: first context, then new information.

Of course, you may not notice the difference it makes. First, because you
already taught yourself to read top-posted mails. Well, you can teach
yourself to avoid a broken step on your stairs, but it still would be better
to fix it, would it not?

Second, it operates at a barely conscious level. It works the same as
spelling and typography: even if you do not notice it, a text with good
typography and spelling is easier to read, you will get less tired and will
be able to read longer and more agreeably. The same goes for the overall
readability of a mail, especially if, like Carl Eugen, you have a big lot of
mail to read every day.

Of course, trimming the quotation and replying at the correct place takes a
little effort. Why should you make that effort?

Well, first, it is not wasted effort: while you are trimming the quotation,
you are re-reading the mail for its relevant parts, and that will greatly
help formulating a relevant answer.

Second, when person A writes to person B, it is just common politeness that
A should make efforts to make it easier for B to read the mail.

In that regard, writing a mail with bad spelling, bad typo or bad overall
presentation is rude, just as speaking to someone while chewing gum is rude.

This is especially true if person A is not writing to a single person B but
to a lot of recipients. And this is even more true if person A is asking for
a favour. Most people who are told off for top-posting come here with their
question and go away when they have their answer; they barely read the other
discussions on the mailing-list.

Personally, I usually give new people on this list one chance: the first
time I point them to what the did wrong and can easily correct, and if they
do not make any effort the second time, I just stop reading their mails: I
have better things to do with my time (except right now).

Carl Eugen deals with the worst lusers on this mailing-list, the ones that
are so stupid that every one else has given up on them. The ones that are so
stupid that, in a mail with two short sentences, they manage to read only
one (one example exactly like that just this morning). We should all be
grateful for his efforts, not nag him because he does not offer servility on
top of free help.

Regards,

-- 
  Nicolas George
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