[QUOTE=Johanna]
—From the unpublished manuscripts of J.K. Rowling.
[/QUOTE]
I warned you to stay away from the slashfic, but would you listen…!!! 
They never listen, Polycarp. It’s heartbreaking. Why, just the other day in Grand Central Terminal, a gal waved her wand and loudly proclaimed,
Dopeius Postatum !!!
and was immediately turned into a black and white three dimensional real-life turkey wearing a mortarboard.
They wouldn’t let her board the 5:48 to New Rochelle…
Oh, the humanity.
So how about this sentence:
Einstein’s famous equation states that E = mc[sup]2.[/sup]
I like that much better with the period on the bottom, thus:
Einstein’s famous equation states that E = mc[sup]2[/sup].
When quoting a screenname, it’s important to bold only the actual name, and not any modifiers. Otherwise, if I’m reading a thread where someone was quoted, I can’t easily tell what their real poster name is. Should I do a search for “YoursandMine’s” or “YoursandMine”?
Also, I would go even further, and say that capitalization should also be preserved. If the poster’s name is “eeK”, then the first letter should not be capitalized at the beginning of a sentence. (Notice how I kept that last comma outside of the quote marks, despite American convention, because I disagree that quotes should include commas (or any other punctuation) unless they were meant to be there–especially when one is trying to draw attention to a single word form.)
[QUOTE=Chronos]
So how about this sentence:
Einstein’s famous equation states that E = mc[sup]2.[/sup]
I like that much better with the period on the bottom, thus:
Einstein’s famous equation states that E = mc[sup]2[/sup].
[/QUOTE]
I would agree. But if the “E=mc” part of the sentence were, for some reason, italicized or bolded, I would make the “2” italicized or bolded also. Just like it appears in the quote box above. (Note that the colon is also in italics.)
I wasn’t saying that punctuation following superscripts or subscripts should be superscripted or subscripted!
[QUOTE=Musicat]
Fetus, I’m speaking from an English point of view, not as technical manual. I think the requirements of your special cases are distinctive enough to override other conventions. However, if you are writing a novel, I think my rules would be best.
Now, which is the SDMB more like: a novel or a technical manual? You decide.
[/QUOTE]
I tend to think of usernames in much the same way that technical manual writers think of commands, as a specific string of characters that is set off in bold to denote what it is. Since usernames could contain various punctuation, capital or lowercase letters, numbers, or other characters, I use boldface to mark the exact string of characters that is the username (or sometimes an abbreviated version). I simply consider the bolded screenname to be the unit upon which anything else occurs.
For example, if it ever came up that I was emphasizing the possessive of a screenname, I would bold just the screenname, but italicize the screenname and the possessive.
THANK YOU! Jeez.
OMG, did you see how** TubaDiva ** didn’t bold “Tripler”?!? Oh, but meanwhile we plebians are expected to bow and scrape and bold user names and attribute direct quotes and not break copyright laws. Where will it end???
[QUOTE=gigi]
OMG, did you see how** TubaDiva ** didn’t bold “Tripler”?!? Oh, but meanwhile we plebians are expected to bow and scrape and bold user names and attribute direct quotes and not break copyright laws. Where will it end???
[/QUOTE]
Well, I have to admit, I’m a “What You See Is What You Get” kind of poster–meaning I basically throw out all consideration of the motivational (and sometimes chemichally enhanced/degraded) capabilities of the poster, that I take it all in context. While I myself would bold the name to highlight it, both for quotation purposes, I choose to to make it easier for the quoted to respond to my post, if he/she chooses to. I personally am a “WYSIWYG”, and I take the tone and content for what it’s worth at face value. And thus is why I asked the OP: is there a precedent we ought to read in the bolding or not of a poster?
Tripler
All semantics, apparently to the Teemin’ Millions.
Yes. Refusal to bold your username means the poster disrespects your family. It basically means “What’s the difference between your mother and a mallard with a cold? One’s a sick duck and I don’t remember the rest of it, but your mother is a whore.”
[QUOTE=fetus]
Yes. Refusal to bold your username means the poster disrespects your family. It basically means “What’s the difference between your mother and a mallard with a cold? One’s a sick duck and I don’t remember the rest of it, but your mother is a whore.”
[/QUOTE]
Fatwas have been issued and holy wars started on less provocation.
[QUOTE=Musicat]
Fatwas have been issued and holy wars started on less provocation.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, that’s the last thing I need on my conscience: a holy war started solely because people can’t agree on how to bold-font a username.
Tripler
Seriously, my karma is bad enough. I don’t need that one too. . .