05-29-2003, 05:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Please Quote Sparingly
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=116513#116513
The "Quote" feature is a great tool on the Pocket PC Thoughts board, but please use it responsibly. I have linked above to an example of what we shouldn't do. I don't do this to pick on the two involved, both of whom are valued members of the Pocket PC Thoughts community, but only because I just ran across this one a few minutes ago. I am guilty of it as well at times, so this is a reminder to me too. 
Why does it matter? Well, those of us on broadband could care less. It is just a bit of screen real estate. Those on modems though might appreciate a bit of a faster download, and those of us on GPRS connections are paying for every letter that comes across! :evil: This really hit me over the weekend when I was using my iPAQ and Nokia to access these boards.
So please, quote what is necessary to put your reply in context. You don't need to quote the entire sub-discussion nor do you need to quote a 40 line post and append a one line reply. :way to go:
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05-29-2003, 05:05 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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relevant
Quoting relevant parts of a conversation thread make sense at time.... such as including the question being answered. I can definately see how it is abused.
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Jonathan (JonnoB)
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burke
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05-29-2003, 05:22 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 545
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I understand quoting on USENET, but on the web?
On the web, you usually will read the whole forum in a clip and once you have done that once, you just go to the last page and read the new stuff. On USENET, you load each message individually. It's a good practice on USNET because that way you don't have to load more than the message your currently reading and it's taken as the whole message. On a web forum, the post your referring to or replying to is sometimes even on the same page. Quoting it is redundant. I propose instead of quoting.....linking. Make it so every post has a bookmark (indicated by it's number) and then instead of quote, do something like a quotelink. It reduces the amount of redundancy on the same page and it provides an easy way to pop to that comment. To pop back to where you were, just cick the back button. If you don't want/need to reread the posters comments, then you don't. Everyone is happy.
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05-29-2003, 05:43 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 631
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I say this only as constructive criticism... Part of it is the software.
This is the only board I've ever seen that quotes a quoted quote. On most boards, if you quote someone who has quoted someone, it removes the quote that the person you're quoting quoted. (Confused yet? :lol
I know this isn't your only issue, but that's part of the problem.
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05-29-2003, 05:47 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 495
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Use the code, Luke.
You can always edit the quote down at least.
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05-29-2003, 05:49 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 85
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it's funny, though
lol, I think it's funny what was being done there. I like to truncate my quotes with just a few of the first words of the original quotes even if is a couple of sentences long. One could typically use the "quote somebody 'lol, I think it's funny...' end quote" or "qoute somebody 'lol, I think it's funny blah blah blah' end quote" if you don't particularly care for the statement.
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05-29-2003, 05:51 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 396
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Seen this intentionally abused on my own website. It was pretty funny though. The thread went off topic and was about how annoying quotes can be. The screen ended up looking all 60s and psychadelic and it was mostly people quoting the whole thread and adding "I agree nested quotes are annoying."
:idea: Maybe I'll change the (custom written) software to remove nested quotes.
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05-29-2003, 05:57 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 173
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Thanks for the heads-ups Ed I know I'm guilty of it! :devilboy:
__________________
Regards,
Qman...
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05-29-2003, 06:26 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 90
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I didn't know nested quotes could look so cool! Thanks for the tip, Ed! :wink:
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05-29-2003, 09:49 PM
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Swami
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 4,396
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More Tips About Quotes
Here are some more tips on quoting with this software (and in general).- Remove any salutations and closings. Use
Quote:
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How do I hard reset my iPAQ 3970?
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not
Quote:
Hi folks:
How do I hard reset my iPAQ 3970?
Thanks in advance,
Someone who feels they need a salutation and doesn't realize that "thanks in advance" is poor usage (an implied obligation on the reader)
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- Put the first line of the quoted material on the same line as the open QUOTE tag. It will save screen space.
First line of text on a new line:
Quote:
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How do I hard reset my iPAQ 3970?
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First line of text on same line as QUOTE tag:
Quote:
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How do I hard reset my iPAQ 3970?
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Notice the extra white space at the top of the first example.
- Do not put a blank line after a closing QUOTE tag. The board software tends to insert a blank line after any closing BBCode block tag (QUOTE, CODE, LIST, etc.).
With blanks:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by User 2
Quote:
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Originally Posted by User 1
How do I hard reset my iPAQ 3970?
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Very carefully! |
Without blanks:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by User 2
Quote:
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Originally Posted by User 1
How do I hard reset my iPAQ 3970?
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Very carefully! |
I think that looks better. (Note that I didn't put a blank line after the QUOTE close tag, yet there's still a space.)
- Do put a blank line before the opening QUOTE tag, though, or the quote will be jammed against your text.
Without a blank line:
Quote:
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How do I hard reset my iPAQ 3970?
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With a blank line:
Quote:
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How do I hard reset my iPAQ 3970?
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Yes, I use this site way too much. :-)
Steve
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Linear Mode
