# Brilliant suggestion whose time is overdue **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 27, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444 "2006-04-27T13:36:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/1 "2006-04-27T13:36:29Z")
The quote tag always attributes authorship as “Originally posted by \”. But in this crazy world, sometimes we find it necessary to cite sources other than an internet message board, leading some to use the “quote=” property to attribute the material. Problem is, there’s this misleading attributional text that gets tacked on: > [@Tom Jones](#): > > It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone. Hm. Tom Jones “posted” this? What do I make of this? Is Tom Jones actually an SDMB member, or did a Tom Jones impostor create an SDMB acccount, or did somebody just think it was cool to use a Tom Jones quote? Since Tom Jones is a household name, the answer is obvious. But for lesser known sources, this is a problem. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/2 "2006-04-27T13:44:18Z")
So, what is your suggestion? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/3 "2006-04-27T13:44:31Z")
Oh yeah… the actual suggestion: Introduce a new tag that boxes the content and introduces it with a more appropriate message than _Originally posted by:_ I humbly suggest the tag be called [cite] and the intro text simply be “_Source:_” I don’t know how difficult it was to implement the spoilerbox, but this should be in about the same league. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/4 "2006-04-27T14:13:28Z")
> [@](#): > > **Tom Jones** > Y, Y, Y > [@](#): > > _Brain Wreck_ > The quote tag always attributes authorship as “Originally posted by \” No. If you don’t want the “originally posted by” just enclose the text with the quote /quote tag. If you do, enclose with quote=whoever /quote. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/5 "2006-04-27T14:20:03Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by_: **Brain Wreck** ; Straight Dope Message Board; “Brilliant suggestion whose time is overdue” (Thread #7338929); Internet, Chicago Reader, ©2006. > > The quote tag always attributes authorship as “Originally posted by \”. But in this crazy world, sometimes we find it necessary to cite sources other than an internet message board, leading some to use the “quote=” property to attribute the material. Problem is, there’s this misleading attributional text that gets tacked on. Like that? Tripler Shoot, now you’ll want footnotes and all, and I left all that behind in high school. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/6 "2006-04-27T14:37:50Z")
A word of advice, **Brain Wreck**. Don’t hide your light under a bushel. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/7 "2006-04-27T14:40:32Z")
> [@](#): > > No. If you don’t want the “originally posted by” just enclose the text with the quote /quote tag. If you do, enclose with quote=whoever /quote. Oh. ---
**Author:** ![Iris\_Rings](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d78d45/32.png) [@Iris\_Rings](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iris_Rings)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/8 "2006-04-27T22:55:57Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > Oh. There’s two secrets to all special posting. One is to skip the special posting and just use words - as though you were saying it in an email. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/9 "2006-04-28T03:39:39Z")
Oh, I love this; all the ads say “Tom Jones.” TubaDiva It’s not unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/10 "2006-04-28T03:46:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally said by **Tom Jones** > It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone. How about this? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/11 "2006-04-28T11:24:31Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > How about this? How did you do that? That’s exactly what I want to do, put my own attributional text in the box. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/12 "2006-04-28T12:51:37Z")
I assume what **Lakai** did is manually enter the coding, something like this: [quote]Originally said by **Tom Jones** It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone.[/quote] But without the spaces in the quote tag. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/13 "2006-04-30T22:32:28Z")
Now the ads are all “Home Drug Test Kits”. That must be meaningful somehow. Do they know something about Tom Jones that we don’t? As a brit, can I even say that? ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/14 "2006-05-02T02:55:45Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > How did you do that? That’s exactly what I want to do, put my own attributional text in the box. > [@JeffB](#): > > I assume what **Lakai** did is manually enter the coding, something like this: > [quote]Originally said by **Tom Jones** > It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone.[/quote] > > But without the spaces in the quote tag. **JeffB** is correct. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/15 "2006-05-02T21:29:29Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > The quote tag always attributes authorship as “Originally posted by \”. But in this crazy world, sometimes we find it necessary to cite sources other than an internet message board, leading some to use the “quote=” property to attribute the material… So- (as the doctor said when I told him “Doctor, it hurts when I do this”) _don’t do that_. Try this: “But according to Tom Jones: _'It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone_”. 😛 And, what makes this better, when I am quoting your post, I can include your quote by Tome Jones in there without a lot of rigamarole. In fact, I’d liek to see a rule against using the QUOTE BLOCKS for anything but quoting another post/er. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/16 "2006-05-03T07:23:08Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > How did you do that? That’s exactly what I want to do, put my own attributional text in the box. Just hit the “reply with quote” button on any post where you are curious about how they did coding. The quoted text will show you the tags. For example, how did I make this post? Reply with quote to find out… When I first joined here, the “reply with quote” button would actually put in the full “originally posted by” text, instead of the much simpler “quote=name” tag. So what now appears in the reply box as: > [@Brain Wreck](#): > > How did you do that? Used to appear like this: > [@](#): > > Originally posted by Brain Wreck: > How did you do that? Back in the day, this meant that quotes weren’t all-italicized, which IMO was slightly better than it is now. However, I _love_ how easy it is to use the newer quote and post tags, so I love the new features. Basically, in the words of Microsoft, what you are complaining about is a feature, not a bug. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/17 "2006-05-03T11:19:49Z")
Asked and answered multiple times, this thread can be closed. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brilliant-suggestion-whose-time-is-overdue/354444/18 "2006-05-03T17:46:16Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > Just hit the “reply with quote” button on any post where you are curious about how they did coding. The quoted text will show you the tags. Except for quotes in the post you’re replying to. That’s a very good tip, but it doesn’t work for this situation.