Copying a post to which one wants to respond

[Gengulphus]

From a post on the taxes board:

P.S. How does one copy a post to which one wishes to respond?

If you want to post a reply to a post, click on the “ button at its top right. You'll get a post input window that already contains the BBCode instructions to quote that post with all of its formatting. Enter your reply above it, below it or both, but not within it (otherwise you'll end up with something that indicates that the author of that post said what you say in your reply, rather than that you're saying it). Before submitting your reply, it's a good idea to check that it says what you want it to by using the "Preview" button, especially the first few times that you try it. Also, if you want to reply to just one short bit of a long post, it's a good idea to edit the quote down, but do take care not to alter the meaning of what you leave in the quote (known as "quoting out of context"), be very careful about editing the BBCode sequences, and always check that what you end up with is sensible by previewing it, at least until you're very familiar with the process.

If you want to try it out without disturbing existing discussions, you can use the Testing 123... board - post something, reply to yourself, etc. Your posts there will last for a while, but eventually be deleted.

If you want to reply by private message, again start by clicking on the “ button, but then select the contents of the post input window and copy them (CTRL-A, CTRL-C within the post input window on a PC). Then abandon that reply and start up a private message by clicking on the "Private messages" button near the top right of any TLF page, then on the "New PM" button in the resulting page, and pasting (CTRL-V on a PC) those contents into the resulting private message input window. You'll have to enter the correct recipient for the private message separately, and also a suitable subject.

This is a rather cumbersome procedure for what really ought to be an easy thing to do, I'm afraid... There are hundreds of extensions available for the phpBB software that powers this site, listed at https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/extensions-36, but unfortunately I haven't found any that claim to provide "reply by private message" functionality... :-( That might of course be due to me missing something that does provide it rather than to it not being there - but if it is there, it's not obvious. Doing a more thorough check for such an extension, and if it doesn't exist, possibly even developing one, would IMHO be a very worthwhile improvement to this site - it would be useful both for moderators and ordinary users.

Gengulphus

[tjh290633]

There is an easier way to send a Private Message. Click on the username at the top of a post and on the page that comes up you will see "Send a Private Message". Click on that and you are away. Do as Gengulphus said to copy the content of the post about which you are writing.

TJH

[Itsallaguess]

How does one copy a post to which one wishes to respond?

Also, if you want to reply to just one short bit of a long post, it's a good idea to edit the quote down, but do take care not to alter the meaning of what you leave in the quote (known as "quoting out of context"), be very careful about editing the BBCode sequences, and always check that what you end up with is sensible by previewing it, at least until you're very familiar with the process.

I made a short video some time ago that shows the process of replying to Lemon Fool posts using the quote feature, and it also shows how to edit down the original quote if required, to help with legibility, whilst maintaining the all-important quote-tags -

Lemon Fool reply with working quote video -

https://player.vimeo.com/video/396237623

There's a 'Play' button at the bottom of the above link that starts the video.

For completeness, I also created a short video showing how the 'multiple-reply with quotes' feature works as well, and although it's a little more complicated than the above procedure, I'll include a link to the video here for anyone interested, just in case people aren't aware of the facility -

Lemon Fool - multiple thread quotes example -

https://player.vimeo.com/video/396253148

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[seagles]

A other way to reference a post is to click on the number next to poster, this will give you the option to copy this. You can then paste that to provide a path to the post you want to reference.

For instance :- viewtopic.php?p=445855#p445855

[jfgw]

I will often skip reading a long quotation on the basis that I have read the original and I have things to do other than re-read a long passage just to be informed of the context of the post. A sentence (or two) should normally be sufficient. Square brackets and ellipses can be used to keep the quotation short but still meaningful.


Julian F. G. W.

[Urbandreamer]

I'm not sure how many get it wrong, by accident.

Recently someone quoted me and claimed that I has said XYZ. Strangely this was the one part of my post that had been expunged from the quote! Likewise, what they claimed was wrong. I bit my lip and ignored it, knowing that anyone who cared could see the original.

If you hit "reply" you get the entire post within a quote block. Should, as I sometimes do, you wish to only respond to the start and end, you can split it into two blocks by copying the closing tag further up and the opening tag somewhat later removing the bit in between and inserting your own text, which will show as yours as it is not within a quote block. If you are only replying to a small part it's easy, and polite to reduce the block to that part. If they themselves are quoting someone else, that person will be notified as if what you were commenting on was their original post and not what you replied to, if you do not.

You can even create your own quote blocks to respond to multiple posts, though you should be aware that those you quote will only know that you quote them if they are continuing to follow the thread. The format is easy to understand if you reply to anything. "Quote" buttons will insert the general tags and you simply need to add "=somefool" to the tag. Where of course somefool is their username at the top of their post. This should be used with care, as it's inappropriate if you are strongly arguing with their point. In such a case you obviously should be flagging to them that you disagree.

If you want to "cross post" then please provide a link to the original post.
As an example I have clicked on the number listed in seagles post of this thread. This put a link in my "clipboard", which I paste below.
viewtopic.php?p=446018#p446018

The point is not about seagles or what they said, but about providing such a link, as was done in the OP (original post) of this thread by the OP (original poster).

[Alaric]

The point is not about seagles or what they said, but about providing such a link, as was done in the OP (original post) of this thread by the OP (original poster).

All this is usual bulletin board stuff, so whilst TMF had its own custom approach, TLF just uses standard software.

Perhaps there's a FAQ somewhere on how best to use bulletin board software.