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Original poster

PLEASE make the opening post un-quotable

43 replies

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 26/07/2023 09:27

I get the point of being able to quote posts as within the existing conversation you may want to highlight a specific comment and discuss it in greater depth

But why is the first opening post able to be quoted? Everyone on a thread reads the first post. And any reply is assumed to be a reply to the initial query until the convo is well established.

So the thread fills up with pointless re quotes of it for literally NO reason whatsoever.

Please can the tech peeps tweak it so the opening post cannot be quoted?

OP posts:
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VinEtFromage · 27/07/2023 16:27

ThoseDays · 27/07/2023 13:16

If you stop people using the actual quote function on the first post, they’ll just copy and paste it if they want to.

@ThoseDays yes, as I said, that's what we did for the first 20 years! 😂😂 However, it's more faffy & people rarely did it, just to make a one line retort. And most of us deleted in our post anyway after formulating a reply. It worked better as it took effort.

BodegaSushi · 27/07/2023 13:49

MillWood85 · 26/07/2023 09:42

It drives me batshit when people quote things already said. Yes we've already read it, thank you. Just tag the person who said it, you don't have to repeat it.

And it's usually a repost of a massive answer that they then type underneath ^^THIS!!

My MN peeve* *😂

Oh god no. Reading a reply with no context is tedious.

Imagine me replying @MillWood85 yes I agree.

Agree to what?? Am I supposed to scroll back and see what was said?

Nothing worse than an AMA where the OP does this, I like to read the question they're responding to along with their answer.

Whinge · 27/07/2023 13:19

ThoseDays · 27/07/2023 13:16

If you stop people using the actual quote function on the first post, they’ll just copy and paste it if they want to.

Perhaps they will, but I really don't remember this being a thing before the quote feature was introduced. Posters would often quote parts of an OP in bold but I don't remember threads where multiple posters copied the entire first post and then posted their reply.

ThoseDays · 27/07/2023 13:16

If you stop people using the actual quote function on the first post, they’ll just copy and paste it if they want to.

VinEtFromage · 27/07/2023 13:14

VinEtFromage · 27/07/2023 13:10

@theemmadilemma

two reasons

  1. there's a lot of detail needed (lots to stop people posting predictable nonsense or questions)
  2. so they don't they get accused of drip feeding

there's nothing wrong with long OP's, it's a chat forum, anyone who can't be bothered reason it, doesn't have to, there's no shortage of threads.

what we don't need is to have it repeated eleventy million times !

Show quote history

@theemmadilemma

sorry, I misread your post.

i think because they're doing what we said up thread, using the quote fiction to the long post is right where they're typing, instead of scrolling back to it.

secondly I think we notice it more as it's a huge wall of text.

theemmadilemma · 27/07/2023 13:12

@VinEtFromage I wasn't questioning long posts, especially OP's.

I'm questioning the sanity of the first person to respond then quoting that whole OP!

VinEtFromage · 27/07/2023 13:10

theemmadilemma · 27/07/2023 12:29

I thoughly agree. And why do people always do it on the longest OP's?

@theemmadilemma

two reasons

  1. there's a lot of detail needed (lots to stop people posting predictable nonsense or questions)
  2. so they don't they get accused of drip feeding

there's nothing wrong with long OP's, it's a chat forum, anyone who can't be bothered reason it, doesn't have to, there's no shortage of threads.

what we don't need is to have it repeated eleventy million times !

bladebladebla1 · 27/07/2023 12:58

MillWood85 · 26/07/2023 09:42

It drives me batshit when people quote things already said. Yes we've already read it, thank you. Just tag the person who said it, you don't have to repeat it.

And it's usually a repost of a massive answer that they then type underneath ^^THIS!!

My MN peeve* *😂

Totally different, this is necessary as that person may have made a few points. Soz for quoting you

bladebladebla1 · 27/07/2023 12:57

ImDoingThisNow · 26/07/2023 09:38

Why does it bother you?

If a thread has 700 messages and has done off on a tangent, then it can be good to quote the OP to show that you are answering just that instead of one of the multiple other threads within it.

It bothers me too and I'm not really sure why

Rogue1001MNer · 27/07/2023 12:56

Brilliant suggestion @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Please do consider it mnhq

And if it puts some thickos off posting because they can't quote, then nothing lost!

Wendysfriend · 27/07/2023 12:48

Oh yes, I agree. ESPECIALLY when it is the first reply, we literally read the op and then the 1st reply has the whole thing quoted.

Seeline · 27/07/2023 12:43

MillWood85 · 26/07/2023 09:42

It drives me batshit when people quote things already said. Yes we've already read it, thank you. Just tag the person who said it, you don't have to repeat it.

And it's usually a repost of a massive answer that they then type underneath ^^THIS!!

My MN peeve* *😂

If we had a 'like' button, this wouldn't be necessary.

YoongiMarryMe · 27/07/2023 12:42

Oh god, yes please to this!

Joey2323 · 27/07/2023 12:39

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 26/07/2023 09:27

I get the point of being able to quote posts as within the existing conversation you may want to highlight a specific comment and discuss it in greater depth

But why is the first opening post able to be quoted? Everyone on a thread reads the first post. And any reply is assumed to be a reply to the initial query until the convo is well established.

So the thread fills up with pointless re quotes of it for literally NO reason whatsoever.

Please can the tech peeps tweak it so the opening post cannot be quoted?

I agree, this is so annoying ;)

theemmadilemma · 27/07/2023 12:29

I thoughly agree. And why do people always do it on the longest OP's?

Scalottia · 27/07/2023 12:26

SoupDragon · 26/07/2023 09:33

How do you propose people reply to the first post if they aren't allowed to quote it? Not every reply is to the OP and sometimes it wouldn't be clear what you are replying to.

It never ceases to amaze me at how many people on MN are unable to cope with little things like a quoted post.

Well, they can write 'OP'. Then we know. Not difficult.

OP I agree.

See, wasn't that hard was it?

Middlelanehogger · 27/07/2023 12:26

I really wish you could quote parts of posts. You could still have a one-click link to jump back to that post (whether it's the OP or not) to read the full context. That's the main attraction of a quote feature instead of copy-paste & bold, being able to follow the thread. (From what I've seen on other forums)

Source: PTSD from the ECHR thread where everyone was quoting 10+ paragraph posts and adding their own 10 paragraphs...

Swashbuckled · 27/07/2023 12:24

Great idea, OP!

AlanJohnsonsBeamer · 27/07/2023 12:21

Agreed! Especially longggggggggg ones. So tedious

whatsappdoc · 27/07/2023 12:20

I agree. If for some reason you want to check back to see what op said it's quick enough to get back to the top (reverse, reverse), it's not like it's embedded somewhere that takes an age to find. Glad to see MN have acknowledged.

VinEtFromage · 27/07/2023 12:20

ilovesooty · 26/07/2023 09:36

I think it would be good to be able to quote parts of posts.

@ilovesooty

i thought that too, but I think things would be taken out of context.

At least if it's just c&p then bolder you know it might not be exactly what the poster write & in context, but quoted you expect to be able to trust it hasn't been tampered with.

VinEtFromage · 27/07/2023 12:16

SoupDragon · 26/07/2023 09:33

How do you propose people reply to the first post if they aren't allowed to quote it? Not every reply is to the OP and sometimes it wouldn't be clear what you are replying to.

It never ceases to amaze me at how many people on MN are unable to cope with little things like a quoted post.

@SoupDragon

The same way we did for 20 years before we got the quote function.

Replies are assumed to be to the OP unless otherwise stated, the OP doesn't need to be quoted again & again within a thread. It really doesn't.

SisterMaryLoquacious · 27/07/2023 12:13

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 27/07/2023 12:04

But I'm not saying don't quote / remove quote function. I'm literally only referring to the opening post.

Show quote history

I know that - I wasn't replying to you, I was replying to MillWood who doesn't like people quoting at all.

AgentProvocateur · 27/07/2023 12:13

Completely agree with @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz It breaks the flow of the conversation and is incredibly annoying.

VinEtFromage · 27/07/2023 12:11

toastofthetown · 26/07/2023 09:29

I think posting a quote with the OP is annoying, but I do like the feature as when replying to the OP, I can quickly refer to it, without needing to scroll up and down the page to check information. Especially on mobile, where the page often force reloads when scrolling up and down the page, losing the reply you’ve been typing.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

fabulous idea!!

@toastofthetown

before we could quote, I used to c&p the OP into my reply box, then delete it when I'd finished writing my post. A little more faff, but tolerable to stop loads of people quoting the OP.

unless Tech can do something more techy!!