I've been working on a FAQ document for quoting posts. Here's my first stab at it; I would welcome comments and suggestions for improvements. If it's okay with everyone, I'll stick the document in the Forum Announcements section as a sticky, ask the admins to add it to the Help section and close this thread.
Quoting FAQCorrect quoting is especially important in forum discussions. It allows forum members to scan the thread and quickly read the ongoing discussion points. However, this is one of the hardest things to get right, even for some forum members who have been posting for a while.
If, after reading this document, you are unsure or feel that you need some practice, you can start your own test thread in the
Test Area section, and play with [quote] tags to your heart's content, replying to your own posts in that section until you're comfortable with the way it works.
It is recommended that forum members do
not use alternative quoting styles, as this can be extremely confusing and frustrating for other forum members.
A quoted block typically looks like this:
[quote author=Moderator_013]This is a quoted block[/quote]
and will be displayed as follows:
This is a quoted block
The tag [quote] means 'start a quoted block', and [/quote] means 'end this quoted block'.
In responding to a quote, please ensure that your responses are
outside the quote block, as follows:
[quote author=Moderator_013]This is a quoted block[/quote]
This is my response.
This will be displayed thusly:
This is a quoted block
This is my response.
If a comment contains multiple points, and you wish to split it in order to make a response to each one, you can 'break up' the quote into multiple quotes. Here's an example:
Default response generated by the forum, as originally shown in the reply box:[quote author=New User]Where can I post test threads? Do I need to have a certain number of posts under my belt in order to do it?[/quote]
Edited response, with the respondent's added text shown in red:[quote author=New User]Where can I post test threads?
[/quote]
In the test area. You'll find it way down at the bottom of the board index.
[quote]Do I need to have a certain number of posts under my belt in order to do it?[/quote]
No, you can start a new thread in the Test area straight away.
If you were to enter this and hit 'preview', this is what you'd see:
Where can I post test threads?
In the test area. You'll find it way down at the bottom of the board index.
Do I need to have a certain number of posts under my belt in order to do it?
No, you can start a new thread in the Test area straight away.
You can also 'nest' quotes, that is, have one quote inside another. Nested quotes can be particularly tricky, as people can lose track of the nesting level. Even experienced forum members can make errors here. As stated elsewhere, use the 'Preview' function to check your comment before you post it - and use the Test Area board if you require a bit of practice.
Happy quoting!
