Think of the leading commas as being the same as leading AND/OR in a where clause or a leading JOIN in a join clause. I used to prefer the commas after the column names as well, but I've since been converted to the wisdom of placing them to the front. It does take a little while to get used to it, but now I visually prefer it and find that I can read my SQL and find any potential issues much faster. Plus its much better for dynamic SQL and refactoring SQL statements.