It's all about folding and what you are going to do with the stapled bits of paper - i.e. read them a lot and keep folding them over or just keep two bits of paper stapled together. If you fold normally stapled pieces of paper (top left diagonally) - sometimes the staple pops through the top copy leaving you stapling in several staples. If you turn the thingy around on the stapler and staple, when you fold the paper over, the sticky out bits of the staple now support the paper and help it rather than making it go through the top sheet !!!