How to quote messages.

[hos]

Quoting is more easy than it looks like. It's very easy if you just use the quote-button and stay in the same thread, you don't need to do much more than adding your own message and maybe shorten the quoted message to the needful things.

But if you want to use a quote "by hand", it can be tricky, but it's not that hard if you once have understood how it works.

If you use the Quote-tag, just make sure you have the same amount of ending tags - and if you use quotes inside a quote, you have to take care on the correct nesting to receive the result you want. And don't forget to add your own message outside a quote - the software doesn't accept quote-only posts.

examples:

single quote:

[quote]quoted message[/quote]


result:

quoted message

quote in quote

[quote]quoted message 1

[quote]quoted message 2 in quoted message 1[/quote]

[/quote] <-- end quote message 1


result:

quoted message 1

2 quotes in quote

[quote]quoted message 1

[quote]quoted message 2 in quoted message 1[/quote]

[quote]quoted message 3 in quoted message 1[/quote]

[/quote] <-- end quote message 1


result:

quoted message 1

quote in quote in quote (...)

[quote]quoted message 1

[quote]quoted message 2 in quoted message 1

[quote]quoted message 3 in quoted message 2[/quote]

[/quote] <-- end quote message 2

[/quote] <-- end quote message 1



result:

quoted message 1

(....)


more options with quote:

1. adding the username (instead "UserName", use the name of the member you want to quote :

[quote=UserName]quoted message[/quote]

result:

Originally Posted by hos

quoted message

2. adding username and post id. standard usage is the post id of the post you want to quote. this manual way is exactly the same you would receive if you click the quote button:

[quote=UserName;PostID]quoted message[/quote]


result:

Originally Posted by hos

quoted message

you will find the PostID in every link behind the post number (top right corner of each post). you only need the number which is placed next to "...showpost.php?p=". Adding the post ID adds a button ( ) to a quote which can be used to jump to the original post (quote-link).


Helper Function:

in post/edit mode, you will find several buttons on top of the edit-box. you can use the icon to envelope any message part you want to display as quote. just make sure that you first select the desired part of a message and then click this icon. if you click this icon without having a selection (inside the post you're writing/editing !) you gain just the start- and ending tag of the quote function.



Finally..

quoted message can be replaced by anything which could be used for a standard post. hyperlinks, images, more quotes... all what's needed. the main problem is to stay on track with the necessary ending tag of a quote the bigger a quoted message gets.

most (technical) quote-errors are either the result of the missing ending tag [/quote]. or a missing bracket ( [ or ] ) to envelope the word "quote"

and never forget : do not quote entire galleries or (working) filesharing-links. don't make foreign content part of your own post, instead keep the quote-link to the original post ( so that members can give credit to the original poster for the received content ) and use only a small part of the original post for your quote to have a referring context. this issue is very important in posts which contain images or movie-files. if it's only about text, a longer quote is sometimes senseful.

[pharoahegypt]

wtf.....?????? can u do that again please Hos....??!!!! lol

[hos]

again.

Originally Posted by hos

How to quote messages.

[Welderman]

Originally Posted by hos

Quoting is more easy than it looks like. It's very easy if you just use the quote-button and stay in the same thread, you don't need to do much more than adding your own message and maybe shorten the quoted message to the needful things.

But if you want to use a quote "by hand", it can be tricky, but it's not that hard if you once have understood how it works.

If you use the Quote-tag, just make sure you have the same amount of ending tags - and if you use quotes inside a quote, you have to take care on the correct nesting to receive the result you want. And don't forget to add your own message outside a quote - the software doesn't accept quote-only posts.

examples:

single quote:




result:



quote in quote

<-- end quote message 1


result:



2 quotes in quote

<-- end quote message 1


result:



quote in quote in quote (...)

<-- end quote message 1



result:



(....)


more options with quote:

1. adding the username (instead "UserName", use the name of the member you want to quote :



result:




2. adding username and post id. standard usage is the post id of the post you want to quote. this manual way is exactly the same you would receive if you click the quote button:




result:


you will find the PostID in every link behind the post number (top right corner of each post). you only need the number which is placed next to "...showpost.php?p=". Adding the post ID adds a button ( ) to a quote which can be used to jump to the original post (quote-link).


Helper Function:

in post/edit mode, you will find several buttons on top of the edit-box. you can use the icon to envelope any message part you want to display as quote. just make sure that you first select the desired part of a message and then click this icon. if you click this icon without having a selection (inside the post you're writing/editing !) you gain just the start- and ending tag of the quote function.



Finally..

quoted message can be replaced by anything which could be used for a standard post. hyperlinks, images, more quotes... all what's needed. the main problem is to stay on track with the necessary ending tag of a quote the bigger a quoted message gets.

most (technical) quote-errors are either the result of the missing ending tag [/quote]. or a missing bracket ( [ or ] ) to envelope the word "quote"

and never forget : do not quote entire galleries or (working) filesharing-links. don't make foreign content part of your own post, instead keep the quote-link to the original post ( so that members can give credit to the original poster for the received content ) and use only a small part of the original post for your quote to have a referring context. this issue is very important in posts which contain images or movie-files. if it's only about text, a longer quote is sometimes senseful.

That Was One Of My questions, And i Still Don't Get It...

[hos]

Originally Posted by welderman

That Was One Of My questions, And i Still Don't Get It...

you mean why we don't allow fullquotes?

if you quote entire galleries or a posted movie including the movie link it's possible for members to receive the full content from your post - which makes it obsolete to visit the original post.

so this rule was installed to make it necessary to visit the original post if so. wants to get the full content. this way the chances are higher that the original poster gets his well earned credits for his posting and not only the member who quoted the content.


regarding discussions/texts like you've quoted - it would be more easy to figure out what you want to say if you just quote the part your answer is related to. the quote-button allows to visit the complete post if you want to get the full context - and the result is more compact and easier to read:

That Was One Of My questions, And i Still Don't Get It...

[MrInBetween]

Since this thread was created, new buttons seem to have appeared, so for the sake of completeness here's a summary of all the ways you can now quote that aren't physically editing text.

The Quote Button starts editing a new post containing a quote of the post in question.

The Multi-Quote Button - right next to it - is used to quote more than one post at a time. Select this for each post you want to quote except the final one, for which just press the usual Quote Button. This will create a single new post containing quotes of all the posts selected, including the last one.

Quick Reply To This Message - to the right of Multi-Quote - sends you to the Quick Reply editor at the bottom of the page, but only creates a quote if you then tick 'Quote message in reply?' in the Options underneath it.

↓ Over Here ↓

[hos]

Originally Posted by MrInBetween

Since this thread was created, new buttons seem to have appeared

no, these buttons aren't new, they already existed when I've created this little tutorial. I was rather focussed on the aspects how to use the quote "by hand" and how to avoid the typical errors, than using the auto-functions you gain with these buttons which are usually error free if you don't fuck it up afterwards.

but thanks for adding this, makes this tutorial more complete

[MrInBetween]

Originally Posted by hos

no, these buttons aren't new, they already existed when I've created this little tutorial. I was rather focussed on the aspects how to use the quote "by hand" and how to avoid the typical errors, than using the auto-functions you gain with these buttons which are usually error free if you don't fuck it up afterwards.

Well, I'm pretty sure that the Multi-Quote at least has been added since I joined mid-2012, but perhaps my memory is playing tricks. That's not important, but I should perhaps have added this: when the buttons are used, nested quotes are not picked up, that is, any quote already in what you're quoting is ignored, leading to sometimes strange-looking results. The Multi-Quote makes it particularly easy to rectify this by picking up all the required posts, but then - and this is where 'by hand' complements 'auto-function' - the result must be edited to replicate, for example, the quote I've used above.

[hos]

afaik only the "Quote in PM" button was added later cause this option was enabled for all members on my request after i've left the moderation staff early 2012 (time flies..). a pretty useful option not just for the mods - who had this option all the time

[trailmaster]

I have been trying to learn how to quote just a portion of a members post and I read hos's tutorial and some of it is easy to understand, and some of it is not. The reason some of the tutorial is not easy to understand is that he does not provide examples. Then I had an idea. I looked in The Rulesand found the explanation in that section to be more helpful because there is an example. I can now make a simple quote of a single sentence or comment from someones post or quote a section of the post, and then provide the PostId which will add that little mark which enables a member to click on it which will send him to the original post. Thanks to hos and to whomever wrote The Rules.