...to hate when people don't quote the people they're replying to?

[aIways]

I guess IABU as I bloody hate these kinds of threads usually - I really don't give a shit if people say hubby on MN or have shit grammar or whatever. I just scroll past if somebody posts something that's annoying or rude or whatever and enjoy reading the telling off they get from other posters.

But when you have an interesting thread full of people @ing usernames to reply, instead of quoting and bolding the words that they're actually replying to.

Why?!?

I wanna know the drama. I'm interested in what you're saying. If you say 'are you fucking joking @user1234? That is the most outrageous thing I've ever seen in 33 years on MN. Have my first you absolute wanker', I obviously want to refer back to what user1234 said. But then I have to scroll back through 100 comments to find it (and then when user1234 has said something like 'I really don't think Tom Hardy is that attractive', I can't believe I've wasted three minutes of my life searching for the cause of the outrage to find out it's that).

AMAs are the worst. I find some of them so interesting but if I have to scroll through millions of comments to find out which question you're actually answering, it's hardly ever worth the effort.

It's like one of those huge choose your own story books as a kid where it tells you to go to page 4 if you choose to board the UFO or whatever, you finally find page 4 and it tells you you were bloody dreaming the whole time. x1000

I know, I know, people can use MN how they want. But this has annoyed me for years and I'm massively sleep deprived and have never seen a thread moaning about this before (unlike poor bloody grammar or people not reading the full thread, which I think is loads less annoying than this issue).

AIBU? Does this not get on anybody else's wick?

Disclaimer before the 'I wish my life was as stress free as to worry about this' brigade descends: This thread is more lighthearted than it sounds, I'm possibly using it as an outlet for the rage I feel about a million more other pressing issues in my life

There's only two sets of forums/fora that I use - Mumsnet and Ravelry. Mumsnet is so backward and old fashioned in comparison it's unreal. On Ravelry, you can reply to any user or to the thread; if anyone replies to a user, a single click will reveal the post it's replying to and the one that that one is replying to, ad infinitum, all nested at the click of a mouse or fingertip. You can click on any thread and be taken automatically to the last post in it that you read. You can ignore threads and posters, as well as mark (for your eyes only) posters with whom you frequently disagree. Formatting bold, italics, and quotes is done by highlighting and clicking the relevant button. Hyperlinks, videos, polls, and pictures are incredibly easy to post and hosting the pictures and videos costs an enormous $1 every year or so. And you can edit your post at any time. Mods can give timeouts or ban posters from threads and sections, greying out or deleting posts easily. You can Agree, Disagree, or Love posts or find them Educational, Interesting, or Funny.

And the "improvement" that Mumsnet is trumpeting is the ability to vote on AIBU or not! Wow. I enjoy reading the content of Mumsnet but the set up is distinctly clunky. It really needs an overhaul and update in terms of the structure and ease of use.

When you click the very top left-hand corner of the address bar (next to the name of the webpage) do you see four lines? If you do, click them. Then try.

It worked! Thank you so much @HasThisSoddingNameGoneToo. You’re my hero.

runs off to try Ravelry

I agree with you op!!!!!

It worked! Thank you so much

OMG!! I helped!! Aww, that’s awesome! I’m really happy. :)

Me too. But then people complain that I quote too much - I've no idea why?
It can still cause communication problems though. It's often difficult to know who said the thing originally without scrolling through lots of pages.
I wish MN had the same quote function as the Guardian where you can make it really clear.

slinks back in, because Ravelry’s for knitters and I can’t knit

@HasThisSoddingNameGoneToo, I’m very happy too. MN at its best. ❤️

Press and hold, or double tap, one of the words in the post you want to quote.

Drag the big blue dots to the beginning and end of the quote.

Click 'copy'.

Start a new post, double tap on the screen and click paste.

Then follow the first two steps to highlight it again, press the arrow button on the right, click on the BIU, then click bold - to make it bold.

You can click on the T underneath your draft post to bold it instead after highlighting, but sometimes this doesn't work for me. Might for you though.

“HasThisSoddingNameGoneToo

slinks back in, because Ravelry’s for knitters and I can’t knit”

I laughed out loud at this 🤣🤣😭

I am trying to think of a popular forum for comparison, ideas anyone?

I did it! But it’s not bold...

* Idid it! But it’s not bold..*

Ok my life is dull but I’m really happy I now know how to do this

slinks back in, because Ravelry’s for knitters and I can’t knit

Yup, and Mumsnet is only for mothers. Just like here, there are plenty of parts of it where knitting, crochet or spinning are completely incidental. Have a look at the facilities in the forum part though.

Absolutely agree with you OP. It's irritating especially when whomever they are replying to isn't within a few posts above. It's really bothersome if they aren't even on the same page. (In fact it is the same for all formatting)

Also agree with MN being very basic. Doesn't bother me too much except when I can't find a poster being replied to

On a tangent with bolding you need to have astrix at at the start and end of every paragraph. Doesn't work otherwise.

Well done!

Gwenhwyfar: "Me too. But then people complain that I quote too much - I've no idea why?"

You just have to ignore these types. They are obviously delirious or insane. And wrong.

Just like here, there are plenty of parts of it where knitting, crochet or spinning are completely incidental.

Ooh, ok. I did wonder if it could be ALL knitting-based, as you had said that people could mute posters they often disagreed with. I was thinking, is there that much dissension in wool? 🤔 I’ll have another look.

OMG I thought this was just me.

On a thread that is 14 pages (350-400 posts) in, someone says

@littleblobfishfacepoodlebumford I think that is the nastiest thing I have ever read on MN. Shame on you grrr.

And as you said, you don't know what @littleblobfishpoodlebumford said OR when in the thread they said it!

At least copy and paste the comment!

This has always annoyed me greatly too!

YANBU @always

If it IS a bit of a problem to cut/copy and paste; then at least put the time and date of when the post was so it's easier for people to seek it out.

Also think the 'Wish my life was as stress free as to worry about this' brigade should plop off. MANY things are trivial that people complain about, many things are not. SOME things are trivial to some and not to others. These boards (and many others) would be empty if people complained ONLY about really serious, life-altering things!!!

.....as you had said that people could mute posters they often disagreed with. I was thinking, is there that much dissension in wool? 🤔

This made me laugh. It conjured up images of threads like:
OP A: "that's not how to cast on. Ffs"
OP B: well fuck you, cos that's how I cast on
OP A: that's it, I'm muting you.

This made me laugh. It conjured up images of threads like:
OP A: "that's not how to cast on. Ffs"
OP B: well fuck you, cos that's how I cast on
OP A: that's it, I'm muting you.

😆 😆 Yes! Exactly like that. “No, it’s IN ROUND THROUGH OFF you bellend!”

Yes! Exactly like that. “No, it’sIN ROUND THROUGH OFFyou bellend!”

@aIways I completely agree, it is so much easier and you don't get people reply to posts that aren't aimed at them or asking was that supposed to be for me.

I have seen people saying they don't want to be @ed - but surely that's what the function is there for, surely if it annoys them they can just switch off the notifications alerts.

I didn't know you could mute people .....please please tell me how this works

@aIways thank you, I completely agree, it is so much easier and you don't get people reply to posts that aren't aimed at them or asking was that supposed to be for me. I will go back to using my @.

I have seen people saying they don't want to be @ed - but surely that's what the function is there for, surely if it annoys them they can just switch off the notifications alerts.

I didn't know you could mute people .....please please tell me how this works