Not sure where to post this so please move it to the appropriate forum if it belongs elsewhere.

I'm having a tough time understanding the way the quote feature works here. Usually when I want to quote at other forums, I hit reply and the text appears within the reply box and I am able to just make new tags as I go along to answer each point. Here, having the quote down below the box I am replying to is making my eyeballs want to pack up and leave my head, lol.

Example of my dilemma: Lets say that I want to reply to a paragraph so I hit quote and come to the reply page. I see a paragraph in the bottom box (the quote box?) the paragraph contains point A, B and C and I wish to address each point.

Now I am up in the reply box. I want to insert a reply between point A and B...do I copy and paste point B up into the reply box or do I leave it in the quote box and reply to it down there?

LOL......is this making any sense at all to anyone?

Yes, this is the right place for this topic, and yes, you are making sense.

Here's a "step-by-step" for you. Feel free to test this out in this topic.

First let's make a few example paragraphs for you to try out the quoting:

--------------------------------------------------

Section. 8.
Clause 1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

Clause 2: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

Clause 3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

-----------------------------------------------------

Allright, so we've now got three distinct paragraphs to quote.

Let's start by selecting the "Quote" button in the upper-right corner of my post. You can click here to open that in a new window so you can follow along.

Now you should see a screen with a big text box for you post, and a box below it containting everything I said.

Go ahead and delete everything up to the dotted lines, and delete everything after the dotted lines. Now, type something (anything) in the box that is for your post. Then hit the Preview Post button.

Still with me?

OK, so we've now got a preview window, and it should contain one big quote of part of the constitution followed by whatever you typed.

If you scroll down and take a look at the box where you enter your post, you'll notice that my words are now wrapped in quote tags. You'll also notice that the little box that once contained my words is now gone. Almost done!

Now, since you want to respond to each of the three paragraphs, we've got to do a bit of cutting-and-pasting.

We accomplish this by selecting the second paragraph and cutting it (ctrl+X). Then, move the cursor down to the very bottom of the text box. Paste the second paragraph by hitting ctrl+V.

So, now we've got the first and third paragraph in a quote box, followed by your comments, followed by the second paragraph. Now we need to get that second paragraph into a quote box. Stick with me here...

There are two ways to do this:
1. Place your cursor before the second paragraph and hit the "Quote" button. Place your cursor after the second paragraph and hit the "Quote" button.
-or-
2. Select the entire second paragraph and hit the "Quote" button.

Once you do that, hit "Preview Post" again.

You should be presented with a preview that shows my first and third paragraphs in a quote box, your comments, and my second paragraph in a quote box.

So one more to go. Cut the third paragraph just like we did the second, and again paste it at the very bottom of your post. Add Quote tags around it by doing #1 or #2 above, and hit "Preview Post".

You should now have a preview that shows my first paragraph in a Quote box, your comments, my second paragraph in a Quote box, and my third paragraph in a Quote box.

Add your comments in between mine, and hit preview.

If I explained this well enough, you should be set. If my explanation is no good, feel free to ask for more clarification.

Mike

Hey, Mike: How do you add the time/date stamps when quoting different posters within a thread?

That one's kind of tricky as it doesn't always work.

There are two types of quote tags.

Regular tags like this:

...and advanced, like this:


Here is what I typed to get both of those to appear:

So here is the trick as far as I can tell:

If you put an = after the first quote, you must make sure that there are two commas after the equal sign.

So, the following quotes may or may not work:

Please note that one bad Quote tag can make every other quote format incorrectly or not at all.

Mike

ok so far......



ok...cut and pasted 2nd para.



That right then? By George, I think I've got it! *does a happy dance* I am used to doing it a different way but I will get used to it with some practice.

Thanks for your work here, Mike.

one last question.....if I am a third party who wants to include the comments of person 2, who is responding to person 1....is there a special way to put the quotes of both people into one thread so I wont interupt the flow of the discussion? Is that just more copy and pasting?

wait a sec...I think you are dealing with it now in Amlord's post. I will wait til you finish with him to see if it applies to me as well.

Did my post to Amlord clear things up for you, Valley?

Cool thanks Mike. I won't even report you for insulting me.

Mike, this formatting is what I was talking about. If I wanted to talk about Amlord being an idiot...I would need to include your original statement as well as his comments to you so people would understand what I was talking about. I guess what is tricky for me is that if I replied to this, some people wouldnt know if I was talking to you or to Amlord because both of your names are up there.

The tags confuse me in the reply box of posts like this. I've noticed there is no end tag on the first quote showing Amlord as the speaker and then another tag shows you as the speaker and then at the end there is a closing tag after your comment and a closing one after his.

The tags go like this: quote, quote, endquote, endquote
I always thought they were supposed to go like this: quote, endquote, quote, endquote

Its a "quote within a quote" and I've never seen tags being used in other forums this way so it threw me. I thought I understood how to use html tags but I am just learning that they can be used another way too....so yes...it is clearer to me now thanks to Amlord's creative editing, lol. Guess he isnt as much of an idiot as ya thought he was, eh?

Ah yes. It's called "Quote Embedding" and it is a cool feature of the software we run. You can manually quote an individual, or you can embed a quote within a quote.

[quote]You[quote]can[quote]even[quote]embed[quote]a[quote]bunch[quote]of[quote]q
uotes[quote]if[quote]you[quote]want.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

It makes me kind of dizzy, though.

Mike

[quote=Mike,Jul 18 2003, 08:01 PM] Ah yes. It's called "Quote Embedding" and it is a cool feature of the software we run. You can manually quote an individual, or you can embed a quote within a quote.

[quote]You[quote]can[quote]even[quote]embed[quote]a[quote]bunch[quote]of[quote]q
uotes[quote]if[quote]you[quote]want.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

It makes me kind of dizzy, though.

Mike [/quote]
hehehehe...showoff!

Another way of doing this, which is a bit more convoluted, but relatively failsafe, is to address each different poster separately. What I usually do is hit the Quote button in the first post to which I wish to respond. I follow the steps as outlined by Mike in his first post here, then I hit the Preview button. The entire response, with quote tags, appears in the response window. I copy the response (Ctrl+c), then use the Back button to return to the thread. I then hit the Quote button on the second post to which I wish to respond. Before doing anything else, I paste (Ctrl+v) my previous response in the response window. I can then continue replying to the second posting or I can Preview the post and continue my reply with the new quote attached.

For example, I'm about to stop typing this. I will preview it and copy this response as well as your quoted question. I'll then return to the thread and Quote your last posting here, immediately pasting all of the above. Everything below the double dots will be from by "second" response...

:::::::::::::::::::::::::


Once I Preview this with the "first" response pasted, your new quote appears at the top of the response window. I just cut and paste it to the bottom, then append this, my "second" response - with the new ID and time stamp automatically attached (as well as Mike's embedded quote). I prefer doing it this way 'cause I always screw up the spacing or the double-commas or something when I'm trying to manually enter the ID and time stamp - or I forget to add it altogether. This way, the program does it all for me.

EDITED TO ADD:

The only problem with my method is if you forget to paste your first response. If you copy anything from the second quote before pasting your original response, you've lost it. That's why I emphasize before doing anything else, paste your original response.

Thanks. I knew my quotes weren't quite looking like other peoples, but I just thought they were working harder than I was. It didn't occur to me that they were using an easier way than highlight, Ctrl C, Ctrl V, etc.

I've noticed a number of you new folks are not using the quote feature. Please try and do that when quoting another member or quoting an outside source. It makes it easier to read and comprehend your position. It also enables us to differentiate between your words and someone elses.

This thread should answer all your questions on how to use the quote feature. If not, please post your question here.

Thanks

Bump.

Once again, if you are quoting someone or something, USE THE QUOTE FEATURE PLEASE!!!!

If you are having trouble understanding the instructions on how to use them that are outlined in this thread, please PM Mike or me.

I'm bumping this thread again, because since Jaime bumped it before, there are still people who are not using the QUOTE tags.

Please take the time to read through the tutorial if you haven't already. It can be very difficult to navigate through a post that doesn't have the proper formatting.

If you read the tutorial but still don't understand, please contact a staff member, and we will do what we can to help.

In addition to what Cyan has said, I would like to emphasize that if you are quoting someone else's work and do nothing to make it known it is someone else's then you are PLAGERIZING which is ILLEGAL and can get you BANNED.

Bump

Just a reminder - when quoting other members or outside sources, please use the
If you are having trouble with them, please see Mike's 1st post in this thread.

Cool it works.. i was a little skeptical

I finally did it. It only took me 5 months.

testing sorry

Test:

How do you easily get to lets say, Mike @ July 7 2003? I understand the =, but you dont cut and paste poster, time and date, sorry to be so behind the times. Right now I am cutting and pasting, I am not getting the @. The shortcut is?

Ok Im not too comp literate so far.

Plus Jaime said this thread was ok to experiment with but it shows up on HOME, how embarrassing, dammit.