# Cut and paste.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-and-paste/377>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [March 31, 1999, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-and-paste/377 "1999-03-31T19:10:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 1999, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-and-paste/377/1 "1999-03-31T19:10:00Z")

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Does anyone feel it is neccisary to cut and paste the first post of a thread onto each response? This was the tradition on the old AOL board, mostly due to the lame AOL bb format. I think this practice should be eliminated.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 1999, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-and-paste/377/2 "1999-03-31T22:39:00Z")

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Yep. We’ve talked about this before on one of the other threads. There’s no absolute law, but use your own best judgement. If you’re replying to the last post in a thread then it’s pretty obvious what you’re replying to. if you’re replying to a post two or three posts back, it’s good to c&p just a small portion of the post just in order to let people know exactly what you’re responding to.

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Eutychus  
[http://www.disneyshorts.org](http://www.disneyshorts.org)

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 1999, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-and-paste/377/3 "1999-03-31T23:12:00Z")

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… but let’s try to keep the cut and paste small, eh? It does take a long time to scroll down this, and you can reference a past posting by name, or by a short C&P, eh?

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**Author:** ![\_SILENT-BOB\_NOT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e19adc/32.png) [@\_SILENT-BOB\_NOT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_SILENT-BOB_NOT)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-and-paste/377/4 "2000-06-29T02:01:59Z")

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:wally