How to Reply - With and Without Quoting other Posts

[Mick West]

When replying to someone else post, please:

• Don't just cut and paste their text
• Don't copy it and put it in quotation marks, or a different color, or bold.
• DO use the built-in reply system, so we can see who said what and where

Here's a 90 second video demonstrating this

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYse9324e2U


Ideally you would quote just the part of a post that is most relevant. Highlight the text in the post, and a "reply" button will pop up, click on that and it will copy the text you have highlighted as a properly linked quote into the reply box. You can do this multiple times, even on different pages of the thread.

You can also just click on the "Reply" button next to a post, and the entire post will be copied into the editor. Example:

The bit at the start of the quote ([quote="Mumbles, post: 71841, member: 2440"] is important, as it creates a link back to the original post, the little arrow next to the "said:"

If you want to quote something on an external site, then use [EX] tags, as explained here:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/how-to-use-ex-tags-for-quoting-external-content.525/

If you don't want to quote anything at all, do not hit Reply, instead just scroll down to the empty reply box at the end of the page. However consider carefully. Even if replying to the previous post, it's still often a good idea to quote something.

When you quote something it goes inside [quote] tags. You can edit these yourself, or you can use the Quote button to insert quote tags around some selected text. This is under the "Insert" Button:

 

[Jack Mallory]

Here's a 90 second video demonstrating this

I realize the OP is over ten years old, but just an FYI that the video link no longer works.

 

[NorCal Dave]

What are you trying to do? It seems the underlying software that runs the site has had multiple updates, so things might be different now.

To REPLY to someone, there are 2 options. 1 is to hit the "reply" button at the bottom of the post. This will embed the entire post at the beginning of your post. Then you can talk about that post. Like this:

Yields this:

I realize the OP is over ten years old, but just an FYI that the video link no longer works.

View attachment 72940

If it's a long post you're replying to, you can just delete the parts you're not interested in.

So, like this:

I realize the OP is over ten years old,

View attachment 72940

Or you can use method 2, which is to highlight the portion of the post you want to respond to, and this will usually bring up an option to "quote" or "reply". If you choose "reply", the highlighted section you chose will show up in your posting box wherever the cursor is. This is nice for replying to multiple sections of a post. Like this:

Which looks like this:

I realize the OP is over ten years old, but just an FYI that the video link no longer works.

It's just the part I highlighted so I can respond to that directly.

If you're trying to quote stuff from outside sources, use the External Content button at the top:

Copy and paste your material, then highlight it and click the External Content button, followed by the source. This will put the content in a box, so we all know it's something you're sharing from a source and not you talking. For example, here is some information about Dine brands earning, just in case you're interested:

According to Dine Brands' third-quarter earnings report for 2024, total revenues were $195 million compared to $202.6 million for last year's third quarter, representing a nearly 4% decline. This decrease was attributed to negative comparable same-restaurant sales at Applebee's and IHOP.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/applebee-s-and-ihop-make-a-major-change-to-flip-declines/

After I copied and pasted the content, I highlighted it and hit the External Content button. Any other questions PM me and I'll try to help.

 

[Mick West]

I realize the OP is over ten years old, but just an FYI that the video link no longer works.

View attachment 72940

Works for me. Does it still not work? Do other videos work?

 

[Mendel]

Works for me. Does it still not work? Do other videos work?

it says, "this video is private". Log out of youtube, or view this page in private mode, and you should see that.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Same for me. "This video is private"

 

[Mick West]

it says, "this video is private". Log out of youtube, or view this page in private mode, and you should see that.

Interesting. At some point old unlisted videos were made private. I've made it unlisted again, so it should be visible to everyone now.

 

[Jack Mallory]

Interesting. At some point old unlisted videos were made private. I've made it unlisted again, so it should be visible to everyone now.

Yup. It's all good. It works fine now.

What are you trying to do?

I appreciate your thorough answer (sorry for my delayed response) but I had gathered as much from Mick's OP. I was just merely pointing out the dead YouTube link that I discovered in the process. All good now!