# Inserting quotes? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 30, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809 "2004-09-30T06:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/1 "2004-09-30T06:18:10Z")
How does a replier mark a quote like everyone else does? Also how does one initiate and do a spoiler? thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/2 "2004-09-30T08:10:11Z")
The easiest way to quote someone is to click the ‘reply’ button at the bottom-right of their individual post, this will open up the reply dialog with their post already inserted in between the control tags that tell the board software how to format it, it will also include their user name. You should probably edit the quoted portion just down to a coherent portion containing the bit to which you wish to respond, but you must not edit the actual wording to make it appear that the person said something they did not. If you want to put more than one quote in your post, or quote something off-site (being also aware of copyright issues in the latter case), it is necessary to insert quote tags manually. It works like this: [quote]I like banananananananas, but I have trouble spelling the word[/quote] becomes: > [@](#): > > I like banananananananas, but I have trouble spelling the word [quote=“Mangetout”]I like banananananananas, but I have trouble spelling the word[/quote] becomes: > [@Mangetout](#): > > I like banananananananas, but I have trouble spelling the word Please note that I’ve had to insert a space in after the initial square brackets of the examples to prevent them being rendered as actual quotes ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/3 "2004-09-30T13:11:59Z")
All of the vBulletin coding techniques use the same general format: [command]xxx[/command] where “command” initiates the specific action that you want done with text “xxxx”, and the “/command” terminates that action. These commands are enclosed in brackets to tell vB that these are coding commands rather than simple text. A few of the commands have a format of [command=yyyy]. As **Mangetout** indicated, for the “quote” command, yyyy is the username of the person being quoted. Another example is that for web links the command is “url” and the yyyy is the actual web address, like this: [The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/) will come out as [The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/) Adding color to text is another command that uses this format. vB commands can be nested within one another: > [@algernon](#): > > Green > **Blue** will come out as > [@algernon](#): > > Green > **Blue** Note that quoted text is automatically italicized by vBulletin. To finish, here are the commonly used vB commands: [quote] for quoting text [spoiler] for hiding text \*\* for bolding text - for italicizing text for underlining text [url=] for creating a web link There are many, many more, but these are the basics. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/4 "2004-09-30T13:15:28Z")
… and my post above shows that even I can screw up the vB coding. :smack: Let me try that screwed up section again: vB commands can be nested within one another: > [@algernon](#): > > Green > **Blue** will come out as > [@algernon](#): > > Green > **Blue** ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/5 "2004-09-30T13:20:14Z")
Hmmm. Now _that’s_ interesting. The unclosed color command from post#3 carried over into post#4. At least it shows that way in my Firefox browser. On preview though, and in this reply form, post#4 starts out in black. In the IT business this is called an “undocumented feature”. Commonly known as a “bug”. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/6 "2004-09-30T13:23:41Z")
Hmmm. Does anyone else see post#5 in blue? Maybe I need to go back to bed. I’ll invoke the First Law of Frisbee Throwing here, which is “say nothing more predictive than _watch this_”. You won’t be able to see this in my post, but I’m inserting a [/color] tag here. [/color] What color is this text? Blue? Black? ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/7 "2004-09-30T13:25:50Z")
Sheesh. Never mind. I quit. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/8 "2004-09-30T13:26:36Z")
> [@Algernon](#): > > Hmmm. Does anyone else see post#5 in blue? Maybe I need to go back to bed. > > I’ll invoke the First Law of Frisbee Throwing here, which is “say nothing more predictive than _watch this_”. > > You won’t be able to see this in my post, but I’m inserting a [/color] tag here. > [/color] > What color is this text? Blue? Black? I can see that color tag. And everything’s black (except the last half of post #3 and the intended two words in post 4). ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/9 "2004-09-30T13:32:24Z")
Thanks **wolfstu**. In my browser, everything (including my name and location) shows up as blue after my screw up in post#3, including your post#8 – _except_ my post#7 where I opened and closed new color tags. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/10 "2004-09-30T17:05:37Z")
I got the blues… [color=black]Let’s see if this fixes it. I just put in a black color tag, and didn’t close it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/11 "2004-09-30T23:01:52Z")
Can somebody remind me how to produce demonstration tags that don’t actually get rendered (without resorting the curly brackets and then having to explain them) - I thought it was just a case of inserting an empty tag pair in the middle of the tag you want left alone but that doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/12 "2004-10-01T00:17:44Z")
When I am typing a reply above the box are some useful buttons. There is the **B** _I_ U As well as the [RIGHT]justification buttons.[/RIGHT] The last button is a quote button. Simply highlight the text and then hit the button. This is useful if you copy PART OF the text from an article elsewhere on the web and want to quote it in your post and of course you will attribute it. > [@](#): > > You’ll be quoting like a Raven forevermore. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/13 "2004-10-01T01:07:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I got the blues… > [color=black]Let’s see if this fixes it. I just put in a black color tag, and didn’t close it. Nope, didn’t fix it. The effect was a pretty surprise, but would get tiring after a while. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/14 "2004-10-01T08:05:42Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Can somebody remind me how to produce demonstration tags that don’t actually get rendered (without resorting the curly brackets and then having to explain them) - I thought it was just a case of inserting an empty tag pair in the middle of the tag you want left alone but that doesn’t work. I think it used to work like that, but I tried it this morning and it seems the vbulletin people taught the software to work around it. But: Some text Some text Some text In the first one, I enclosed the first bracket in each of the opening and closing tags in a useless underline tag. In the second, I did the same, but with a “Font=verdana” tag. In the last, I tried a “Font=Mangetout” tag, and it seems to work just as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/15 "2004-10-01T08:20:16Z")
Heh. If someone reading this happens to actually have a font named _Mangetout_ on their system… Thanks for the info though; let’s give it a try… [quote=Mangetout] I Like Pie[/url] Seems to work (I used a black colour (actually color) tag pair around the opening brackets). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/16 "2004-10-01T08:21:28Z")
Of course it might just have worked because i mismatched the tags… again: > [@Mangetout](#): > > I really like pie ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/17 "2004-10-01T08:56:10Z")
> [@Algernon](#): > > Thanks **wolfstu**. In my browser, everything (including my name and location) shows up as blue after my screw up in post#3, including your post#8 – _except_ my post#7 where I opened and closed new color tags. Weird. Speaking of bizarre colour aberrations, I was for some reason rereading the [The Grapist just wants to love!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=182547&page=4&pp=50) thread, and apparently the sheer weight of the colour tags caused the very html to break down. At the bottom of the page, the > [@](#): > > Powered by: vBulletin Version . . . republish or repost their own work text is all in yellow! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/18 "2004-10-01T08:58:00Z")
> [@wolfstu](#): > > At the bottom of the page, the text is all in yellow! :eek: And on this page it’s in _blue_! Is this a wierd Internet Explorer thing? ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/19 "2004-10-01T16:42:06Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Can somebody remind me how to produce demonstration tags that don’t actually get rendered (without resorting the curly brackets and then having to explain them) What I do is use the HTML code for the opening brackets (& #91; – without the space between the & and #). The downside is once you do a preview, it replaces the HTML code with the actual opening bracket, so when you post it’ll interpret the vB code. This is why I screwed up my post. I didn’t want to preview and destroy my pseudo-vB-coding. It is mystifying for those who want to check to see how it’s done, because when you hit the Reply button, you don’t see the HTML codes, only the resulting characters. For example, I’m using HTML code here, but when you see it you won’t see the HTML code. Green Text And by the way, everybody’s text is still blue to me. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-quotes/266809/20 "2004-10-01T17:17:12Z")
> [@wolfstu](#): > > Speaking of bizarre colour aberrations, I was for some reason rereading the [The Grapist just wants to love!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=182547&page=4&pp=50) thread, and apparently the sheer weight of the colour tags caused the very html to break down. At the bottom of the page, the text is all in yellow! :eek: This I gotta see… I remember that thread, but not the bizarre color thing… Oh my, that seriously would hurt if you actually tried to read it.