# I am an idiot: How do you quote another message?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-how-do-you-quote-another-message/203507
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [September 24, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-how-do-you-quote-another-message/203507 "2003-09-24T09:59:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-how-do-you-quote-another-message/203507/1 "2003-09-24T09:59:17Z")
I swear that I clicked on the vB Code help icon, and I still can’t figure out how to quote from a previous message on this board. I can copy and paste the relevant text into my message, but how do you get the cool borders that indicate the name of the person being quoted? When I click on the quote icon above, I get a box telling me to insert the text to be quoted, but I cannot copy and paste into this box. What am I doing wrong?😕
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### Author:  [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-how-do-you-quote-another-message/203507/2 "2003-09-24T10:28:55Z")
This thread should be in ATMB.
When you want to quote another poster, go to their post and find and click on the “quote” button. The page you’ll be taken to will show the message you quoted and will let you type in a reply. You can try this with my post.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-how-do-you-quote-another-message/203507/3 "2003-09-24T10:29:19Z")
The quote icon in the Repl window allows you to select text and insert it using C & P.
To get the original poster’s name at the top of your quotation, do not click on “post reply,” but on the smaller “quote” button at the bottom right corner of any specific post.
However, realize that using _that_ quote button selects the entire post and quotes it in boldface. It does not allow you to insert the names of multiple posters for multiple quotes, because each use of that quote button generates an individual reply.
If you do use the quote button at the bottom of a post, please take the time to go through and manually delete any sections that are not relevant to your reply. A lot of people find the re-posting of an entire multi-paragraph post (especially in boldface) to be quite irritating.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-how-do-you-quote-another-message/203507/4 "2003-09-24T10:40:43Z")
This is a question about this message board, so I’ll move it to the ATMB forum.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-how-do-you-quote-another-message/203507/5 "2003-09-24T10:42:24Z")
You can also do it manually, using the QUOTE tags:
> [@](#):
>
> put the text you want to quote here
To make it the same style as using the “quote” button, you need to surround the text (inside the quote tags) with \*\* and \*\*, and then you need to type \* Originally posted by USERNAME \* and hit return.
Thus the following:
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Frostillicus \*
> \*\*I swear that I clicked on the vB Code help icon, and I still can’t figure out how to quote from a previous message on this board. \*\*
Will produce the following:
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Frostillicus \*
> **I swear that I clicked on the vB Code help icon, and I still can’t figure out how to quote from a previous message on this board.**
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### Author:  [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-how-do-you-quote-another-message/203507/6 "2003-09-24T14:04:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by green\_bladder \*
> \*\*This thread should be in ATMB.
>
> When you want to quote another poster, go to their post and find and click on the “quote” button. The page you’ll be taken to will show the message you quoted and will let you type in a reply. You can try this with my post. \*\*
You mean like this??? Thanks, everyone!😃