Quoting messages: please be brief

1992casey

#1

Posted: October 16, 2007, 3:58 AM

Usability Director

Board Administrator

Posts: 15343

Recent versions of our message board software have made it easier to quote messages than it was before. Not surprisingly, a few issues have popped up. Please remember these general guidelines.

Quoting multi-paragraph blocks is not reader friendly. Neither is quoting a string of a multiple nested replies.
Editing quotes is simple and easy, so please try and make an attempt to better illustrate your point. Try to limit your quote to the specific line that you want to quote. If you choose the part of the message that best leads into your topic sentence, you're likely to make sense. Quoting entire paragraphs is redundant and cumbersome for a reader and may muddle the point you are trying to make.
If, within your message, you feel you need to refer to more than one part of a post, quote small sections, then respond underneath each one.
There is generally no need to nest quotes deeper than two replies.
There is no need to quote a picture or any other media file. A simple reference will do just fine. We've all seen the picture (or whatever) and we all know what you're talking about. There is no need to quote it eight more times on the same page. Again, it's not reader friendly.
Remember that phpBB's forum software places a number on each post. This can be used in addition to the quote feature. The two work hand in hand quite well. Also, each reply has its own URL available if you'd like to create a link.
Please remember that the quote is actually part of your message. Choosing what to quote and how to present it should require the same thought and care as composing the message itself.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask by replying to this thread.

Last edited by support on July 08, 2008, 4:10 AM, edited 1 time in total.

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