# Help with Straight Dope postings **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 1, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698 "2005-07-01T15:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/1 "2005-07-01T15:06:17Z")
I’m not sure this is the proper place to ask this but could someone help me with two things? 1. How can I respond to a thread and include quotes from more than one previous posters? 2. I can’t seem to get type bold or italicized. (At least it doesn’t seem so as I type.) If I hot the bold button, for instance—regardless of where in the text I try to place it—all I get is a \*\* at the end of my text. Does it matter than I’m using a Mac (10.3.9)? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/2 "2005-07-01T15:26:01Z")
I still consider my self a newbie but here goes … The reply to thread box has its own toolbar - use it, this is the most basic way : For \*\*bold \*\*underline _italic_ - click on the icon and then type your text in the box which appears. To quote I use the mouse to highlight and copy the text I want to quote, click the ‘quote’ icon (on the far right), and paste in the text. You can do this as many times as you want. (And since I know this too the world and paper click icon is for links to other websites.) Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/3 "2005-07-01T15:30:24Z")
A better forum for this question would be About This Message Board, but I’m sure a mod will be along to move it presently. In addition to **Cat Jones** ’s helpful information, here’s how to do things without the buttons. > [@magellan01](#): > > 1. How can I respond to a thread and include quotes from more than one previous posters? I do not believe that there is an elegant way to do this. For posters after the first one, copy the text you want to quote, paste it into the reply window, then surround the quote with {quote=“postername”} and {/quote}, replacing “postername” with the poster’s name and the {'s with straight brackets. > [@](#): > > 1. I can’t seem to get type bold or italicized. (At least it doesn’t seem so as I type.) If I hot the bold button, for instance—regardless of where in the text I try to place it—all I get is a \*\* at the end of my text. Just manually type {B} and {\B} around the text that you want to boldify, replacing curly brackets with straight. Depending on your browser, Ctrl-B might also work to insert the bold tags as you type. As you noticed, they appear at the end of the text, so if you want to go back and bold something you’ve already typed, you still need to do it manually. > [@](#): > > Does it matter than I’m using a Mac (10.3.9)? Of course it matters. It shows that you are an unusually sensitive and intelligent person with fabulous taste. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/4 "2005-07-01T15:38:05Z")
To quote I use the mouse to highlight and copy the text I want to quote, click the ‘quote’ icon (on the far right), and paste in the text. You can do this as many times as you want. [/QUOTE] **Thanks.** Just manually type {B} and {\B} around the text that you want to boldify, replacing curly brackets with straight. [QUOTE] Thanks.\*\* I hope this works, it is a test. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/5 "2005-07-01T15:40:12Z")
> [@](#): > > I hope this works, it is a test. > > I guess it didn’t. I hope this works, it is a test. [QUOTE] So, another test. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/6 "2005-07-01T15:42:27Z")
> [@](#): > > I hope this works, it is a test. > > no? So, another test. [QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/7 "2005-07-01T15:45:48Z")
Aarrrrgghhh. > [@](#): > > So, another test. and > [@](#): > > So, another Let’s see. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/8 "2005-07-01T15:46:59Z")
you’re not closing your brackets correctly it had to be [style]… [/style] B for Bold, I for Italic. I’m not what underline is, maybe U. Your [quote] above is lacking a “close slash” To quote with reply use the “Reply with Quote” button at the bottom of the post you wish to quote. easy peasy. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/9 "2005-07-01T17:50:56Z")
Questions about the operation of the Message Board go in ATMB. Moved from GQ. **samclem** ---
**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:** [July 1, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/10 "2005-07-01T18:40:22Z")
Here’s the page in the FAQ that deals with vB coding: [vB coding](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/misc.php?do=bbcode) \>[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/misc.php?do=bbcode](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/misc.php?do=bbcode) The [img] code for images is disallowed here. your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/11 "2005-07-02T03:59:16Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > I still consider my self a newbie but here goes … > > The reply to thread box has its own toolbar - use it, this is the most basic way : > > For \*\*bold \*\*underline _italic_ - click on the icon and then type your text in the box which appears. > > To quote I use the mouse to highlight and copy the text I want to quote, click the ‘quote’ icon (on the far right), and paste in the text. You can do this as many times as you want. I’m going to show how clueless I am… I’ve been around for _years_, posted thousands of times, and never noticed these features. All this time, I’ve been typying (b) (/b) (i) (/i) or (quote) (/quote) myself :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/12 "2005-07-02T04:21:43Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I’m going to show how clueless I am… I’ve been around for _years_, posted thousands of times, and never noticed these features. > > All this time, I’ve been typying (b) (/b) (i) (/i) or (quote) (/quote) myself > > :smack: Why a smack? I find it much easier to type the tags than to remove my hand from the keyboard to the mouse. I used all the icons for a while but only use the hyperlink icon now. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2005, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-straight-dope-postings/310698/13 "2005-07-02T08:33:38Z")
I agree with **This Year’s Model** : It’s easier for me to type tags manually than mess around with my mouse while I’m actually focused on the text in the box. I even type smilies manually because, again, I don’t do well wrangling mice when my attention is centered on typing.