Personally, I usually leave the existing question at the bottom (I top-post).

Although, when the thread takes a turn, I do sometimes snip the stuff that no
longer applies.

As a general rule, I don't usually read the original post. I'll start with the
first response. I figure that I can read the question at the bottom of that
response.

I don't think anyone would be upset if you snipped most of the original message,
but left enough so that others could still see the point of the question.

justme wrote:

Sorry for posting here, but I don't know where to ask this.

I have no idea how people view newsgroups other than the way I do, using the
microsoft website with a regular browser.

Whenever I respond to a post, I always delete the previous response text, so
as to make the thread webpage shorter. Is there a reason I should leave that
text in? For instance, does a real newsgroup application not show previous
posts by default? I read the newsgroup faq, but it just says you can delete
the previous text "if you want to". I just want to know what the etiquette
is.

Thanks.

--

Dave Peterson