To explain to you why your bold has failed?

[LittleCabbage]

I've seen a few threads recently where a poster has tried to quote part of a thread by making it bold type, and has remarked that it has failed. This confused me for a while too!

Basically, if the bit you are quoting has more than one paragraph, you need to put an asterisk at the start and end of EACH PARAGRAPH, rather than just at the start and end of the entire section.

Hope that is helpful

Ah, I've done this. Makes sense now, thanks!

You are correct - that's often the reason I have bold fails!

But, I still do it sometimes, when I'm in a bit of a hurry or where it isn't clear there is a break between paragraphs. Sometimes people hit enter and it doesn't show as a full break, like this
this this this. That's a new paragraph, but you can't tell. I think.

See? No bold! But you would think that^^ was one paragraph, especially if you were in a hurry.

I thought the title had a typo and came in to see why my insert random household appliance or such doesn’t work. Now my bold works

Apparently my attempt at being helpful has been judged unreasonable by 60%!

Ah well, glad to have helped a few 😊

Apparently my attempt at being helpful has been judged unreasonable by 60%!

Probably because it's not an AIBU.

Sigh.

Thank you I wondered why it sometimes didnt work

Also don't leave a space between the asterisk and the letters or the final punctuation mark, or you will get a bold fail.

Also use Preview.

Thank you for this. Is it more annoying to leave a bold fail or to post again apologising for it?

I'm always doing this. I should preview my posts. It's because I often don't realise I've missed a space between asterisk and first letter of sentence.

OTOH, if you use the new quote function, any bold in the original post doesn't work, you just see the asterisks instead in the quoted bit.

Can you explain strike through - I can never get that to work? On an iPhone inadequacy that is relevant

For strikethrough you use two dashes -- and put them either side of the text without a gap.

like this but with no gaps, to get this

The markup on MN doesn't seem to work consistently, it can look different in the app v browser version.
And if you really want to see mangled bolding then some of the education threads discussing A level grades are fun...

Probably because it's not an AIBU

Sigh.

Lol! You tried OP

@ErrolTheDragon

The markup on MN doesn't seem to work consistently, it can look different in the app v browser version. And if you really want to see mangled bolding then some of the education threads discussing A level grades are fun...

Ha! Never thought of that!

@SideAfries

Probably because it's not an AIBU

Sigh.

Lol! You tried OP

Well, we all know AIBU is a particularly venomous nest of vipers, right?

I only have myself to blame

I thought this thread was going to be about washing powder.

As you were.

The markup on MN doesn't seem to work consistently

This. Strikethrough in particular seems to only work arbitrarily across the different devices and browsers I have accessed Mn on.

Thank you!!

—still no joy— 🙄

@Gatelodge

The markup on MN doesn't seem to work consistently

This. Strikethrough in particular seems to only work arbitrarily across the different devices and browsers I have accessed Mn on.

There's another fun effect when people c&p a chunk of text which has a pair of dashes in it as punctuation and so a section gets struck through. It can completely change the meaning or make it look passive aggressive.

Strike through only works for me in browser if I click the I button next to smiley face then click on delete. This gives you the - - - - with the curser in the middle. like this

If however I type - - together no space it looks like —this— as it auto corrects to one dash.

I’m pretty sure I’ve done that at least once, @ErrolTheDragon. It looked like a very snarky aside, completely undermined my genuine sympathy for the OP, and made me look like a weapons-grade wanker.