Solwaybuggier Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 I don’t suppose this will change anything, but I’m still going to try! If you respond to a long posting by using the quote button, please edit the quote down to what you’re responding to. On the current “Schengen” thread, some of the posts are pretty long (because they’re detailed) - and people responding to them have just used “quote “ and added what they think is a smart one line response. It makes the whole thing incredibly unwieldy - and it also makes it unclear which part of the original post the comment is a response to. This plea isn’t just about that thread though - it’s a wider issue. It isn’t hard to edit down the quoted post, and would make life vastly easier for the reader. Ideally, use of square brackets and ... could make it clear text has been removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 I totally agree and have been saying so for ages! But doing that would take common sense to a new high for this forum and that is perhaps expecting too much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 I would note that on some forums you can either reply as a quote in which case only the last post will show, or to include more than that you will need to click on each post you want to include. If there's ever a update to the forum it would be good to include that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Tracker - 2018-12-12 3:24 PM...………….But doing that would take common sense to a new high for this forum and that is perhaps expecting too much! You mean like this? :-) Great idea! All I'd say in rely to Rich, is if you want people to cooperate, subtlety should be your ally! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Brian Kirby - 2018-12-12 3:41 PM Tracker - 2018-12-12 3:24 PM...………….But doing that would take common sense to a new high for this forum and that is perhaps expecting too much! You mean like this? :-) Great idea! All I'd say in rely to Rich, is if you want people to cooperate, subtlety should be your ally! :-D Subtlety - is my middle name as well you know Brian! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deneb Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 I remember the good old days on Usenet when it would have been a hanging offence not to trim any quote used in a response to the minimum necessary to give context to the reply. Something I still try to achieve even now. Far worse than travelling with your waste tap open :-D At least this isn't one of those forums where people post a lot of images and following posters just repost them in their replies ad infinitum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 I'm not sure I know how to use the quote function but I know the reams and reams of quotes and links on Chatterbox does me 'ead in. On non-motorhome forums I frequent, when replying to a specific member's post, they use the @ symbol such as @Solwaybuggier. That makes it easy to follow a thread when it goes off in different directions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Brock - 2018-12-12 4:42 PM I'm not sure I know how to use the quote function but I know the reams and reams of quotes and links on Chatterbox does me 'ead in. Simple, click on 'Quote' in the relevant post then trim the text within the quote brackets. But don't upset the word QUOTE in the square brackets or it will all go wrong! Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Solwaybuggier - 2018-12-12 3:21 PM ...It isn’t hard to edit down the quoted post... It needs to be appreciated how elderly the software underlying the O&AL forums is and how technology has changed since 2004 when the forums were created. It also needs to be understood that Warners have no plans to improve/replace the O&AL forums’ software, so - although you might believe that the functionality of these forums is poor - it ain’t going to change in the foreseeable future. I loathe massive postings comprising multiple nested quoted posts, and there’s no real excuse for perpetrating this untidy and lazy forum outrage if a desktop or laptop computer is being used. But I occasionally participate on these forums using a largish iPad tablet (rather than my preferred iMac desktop computer) and find the process much clumsier. Consequently, when I see postings with no capitalisation or punctuation, I assume that the poster is using a phone as, although I don’t much enjoy using the iPad, I can understand how much harder using a phone would be. So (speaking as a forum Moderator) if you can do as Solwaybuggier requests, please do so. But if - when quoting earlier postings - you find it really hard to prune them into a rational structure, just do your best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanb Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Solwaybuggier - 2018-12-12 3:21 PM ............................................. Ideally, use of square brackets and ... could make it clear text has been removed. I think that use of repeated full stops, as in the above example, is all that is needed to show that text has been removed, and is a necessary courtesy to the original poster. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 Given it's age the forum software works remarkably well and if it ain't broke please don't fix it - it's the people that don't work so well and if they can be fixed miracles do happen!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 I fail to see why folks get upset about certain posts , if you do not like one why not just click off it Simples ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Solwaybuggier cites the currently-running "Stays in Schengen area post Brexit” thread as an example of the forum’s Quote feature being used repeatedly by several forum-members with no attempt made to edit the (often long) posts being quoted to make them more relevant to the respondent’s (often short) comment. The effect is that the thread sprawls down the viewer’s display screen (whatever type of device is being used to view the O&AL forum) losing much of what impact and interest it might have had. It’s near certain than any thread where the Quote feature begins to be used extensively in the manner complained about above will be of little interest to me, so I’ve no difficulty ignoring the thread from that point onwards. But it’s still an ugly and inefficient way of participating in a discussion and best avoided. There is on-line guidance regarding forum ‘etiquette’ and Number 14 in this useful example https://www.toptenreviews.com/services/articles/25-forum-posting-etiquette-tips/ advises "When replying to a post, do not quote more from the previous post than you have to.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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