Combat is starting. I have the players roll initiative and I roll initiative for the enemy creatures. I have a display chart that shows initiative order and I show when each character will act.
Do the players know when the enemy will act before anyone has acted yet? For example, Player #1 begins combat, will the players know that the main enemy will act between Player #3 and Player #4?
Perhaps this is more play style than rules...
We've always played with the Initiative screen thingy up so we can see it.
The GM figures it's only fair, since he knows when we're going to go.
The rules are silent, but in the game world initiave much like BAB does not exist so they should not be using that info.
When I run games I don't give that info to players.
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I am one of those GMs that likes to hide as much of the mechanics from players as possible, so the only time players know an enemy's initiative is when the enemy has taken an action. It is one of the methods I use to lessen meta-gaming and try an increase story (I also do not roll in plain view).
The down side to this is that it is one more thing for me to track. It's up to you on whether it is worth the extra bit of work.
I don't show the players, nor do I stop them from writing down the order in which everyone acts.
i don't reveal it in advance, but after the first round it is known.