to think that MN's forum is massively crap for having bad quoting facilities?

[frgr]

i get terribly lost in long threads because people all use their own way to quote other bits of people;s posts?

AIBU to sigh and wonder why MN doesn't add a better quoting thing, automatically, on posts?

MN should add a little button next to each post (next to the report link) saying "quote", and then it should take you to the normal Reply page automatically, with the poster's name in bold, and a little border around the bit you've quoted

it would make inter-post communication and logical following of threads much easier

i surely can't the only one to have suggested this? or is there some facility there which we've all not using?

so AIBU to think that MN's forum quoting (or lack of) is supremely crap?

Hecate... - massive difference between a forum and being in the pub with a group of mates - in the pub, you might address a response back twoards the person who said it, and they would equally be in tune with what they said, and how your comment follows on.

Here, when A says something, then B, C, D, and E comes in, to query / agree / add to what A wrote, it makes a lot more sense for context to be made clear.

PAforPM :- "often quote people (didn't realise twas "bad form")"

I don't care if someone thinks it is bad form - If it makes clear the context of the following portion of my post, which relates to a part of some post perhaps 40, 60 or even 100 posts back.

Agree with Tee2072 that it is easy to put your own quotes around text, and having to select a portion, copy and paste, may be good discipline wrt quoting only what is needed, where a button to do it may default to a whole post and encourages a lazy attitude.

What I find annoying is when I see comments like

Oh yes, I agree

where Y is responding to X and they banter several posts apart, it may be clear to X and Y and perhaps a few more posters, but just coming to the thread and starting to read, can leave a newcomer quite puzzled at these out-of-context, separate chats.

the last forum I was on had a good quoting facility, you could see the box and comment underneath

Nooooo please no quote facility.

I found it a bit strange when I first joined MN but now it is one of the reasons I love it so.

But NetworkGuy - you were just able to respond perfectly clearly to me. Without a quote button. And refer to something PA said. without a quote button. AND bring in Tee. Without a quote button. And make it flow well.

I am with the OP actually

And I don't see anything aggressive about quoting. If you are responding to a particular comment how else can you make that clear?

Just putting the name of the poster you are responding to doesn't always help because if it is a long thread people would have to scroll back and forth to see what it was all about.

YANBU

I would prefer it. Meh. Every forum has it's 'thing'. Some places go absolutely insane if you double post, others hate swearing, others wont let you hotlink, here they don't like threads about threads or quoting.

Ho hum.

*5foot5" like this

PSAMMEAD

please excuse ths rude intrusion but i have been burtsing to tell you for a long time that i read your name as
SpamHead

carry on

^ lol.

And that's a good argument for edit buttons.

Spamhead?!?!

AWESOME!

I like quote facilities. I find it very confusing when people quote in their posts, but it doesn't stand out in any way, so it's only halfway through reading that you realise. Insanity.

I came from the TES forum where the quote facility is used a lot (and yes, can get irritating sometimes), but I've never seen it used particularly aggressively. On the contrary, it can be very useful.

Frak. It was taken. Went for the next best.

Id like a quoting box, they hve one on eBay forums. I generally just copy and paste though and bold another persons bit of post if I wanted to refer to it.

Frgr - it's brought up quite frequently but the overwhelming majority are against the idea. (Me included, not that that matters!!).

I would like something like the ^ or the * which changes the writing so you can see it's a quote but you still need to C&P so something like ~ each side puts it into a different font...

I've seen MNHQ do quotes so the facility is there

the proper quotes where it appears in a paler background colour so you don't need to re-read it if you already know what it says

yes agree a bit crap of the forum

I agree with everyone who says "No to quotes".

You just spend all your time scrolling through acres of posts you already read half an hour ago.

oh yes, i agree

Activate - yep - MNHQ have the quote facility, but have listened when the overwhelming majority have said that we don't want that facility available to everyone else. So, it's not crap - it's listening to what the overwhelming majority have said they'd prefer :)

Yes MaryZ - it would be a nightmare on here! Some posters shouldn't even be allowed the 'bolding' facility!

I definitely agree with the OP. It is true that quoting can be overused [I don't like multiquotes within a post] but I would like to see a limited quote facility.

I also agree with the poster who likes the layout of MSE.com. I don't think quotes are overused on that forum.

but why not?

quoting is a standard tool in most fora and rather useful too

and who is this majority? it wouldn't be the vocal minority one would it LOL

I think on mumsnet, as on the vast majority of forums I have been a member of, it would be used intelligently. As would an edit button.

almost every single forum i have been on has a better layout and features than this one, sadly

except handbag - that was lovely until they "fixed" it :(