# May we enable the ability to quote the entire previous post? **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [August 14, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126 "2020-08-14T22:02:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/22 "2020-08-16T14:40:55Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > @codinghorror Can I make a suggestion? > > If you reply to any post except the last one, _without_ quoting anything, you get an indication (above the post on the right) of which post you were replying to, and you can click on it to display the post. As here, it shows that I am replying to a post of **codinghorror**. > > That’s a very useful feature. in fact, I love the way the threading works here. You can immediately see which post is being replied to, as well as all the replies to a post, in place without scrolling. > > If that pop-up link could be shown _**even when the post being replied to is the one immediately above (and not quoted)**_ , then that would solve the problem. You will be able to see whether a post is a reply to the previous post or to the whole topic, even though nothing is quoted. Seconded. That’s really the underlying issue. A reply to the thread at large is a vague blend of a reply to the OP and to _all_ the accumulated posts. The earlier in the thread, the more it’s seen as the former vs. the latter. A reply to the immediately previous post is semantically different and deserves to have that difference preserved in the least visually distracting and ideally the most visually consistent way. Having the referral indication at upper right on every post-specific reply is IMO the best why to do both within the overall architecture of Discourse’s worldview. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/23 "2020-08-18T03:02:49Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > when the edit panel is at a usable size, it takes up too much room to easily highlight things after the fact. I can’t even see a whole paragraph at a time up there. If you mean what I think you mean, click on the down arrow at the top right corner of the eidt panel to minimise it. You then have an up arrow to expand it if you want to add to your post. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/24 "2020-08-18T05:29:40Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I 100% disagree with that last part. It’s merely how the SDMB has always handled the situation. IF you want to reply to a post in its entirety (and not to only one part), you quote it. It’is just a community standards thing, not part of any style guide. And, for many if not most of us on the SDMB, it’s not desirable that it gets deleted. Just look at how many of us go back and fix the quote being deleted–it’s common enough that I assume those who don’t just didn’t notice. That’s different than what I thought. AFAIK, TPTP at the SDMB have always encouraged folks to NOT quote entire posts. It is considered poor form, takes up too much space, and doesn’t sufficiently indicate which part you are specifically responding to. On a slightly different note, here on Discourse we now have people who “reply” to posts but don’t quote anything at all (yes, I know that is part of what this thread is about). I guess they just click on the “Reply” but without first quoting any part of the post. So all that shows up is somebody randomly saying something that replies to something 30-40 posts back in the thread. There is no indication of what they are referring too, I think there is at least the name of the quoted poster maybe. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/25 "2020-08-18T13:03:27Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > What I just did was click the reply link at lower right of the post immediately above, then click the voice balloon at upper left of the edit control to incorporate that entire post. Then I deleted everything between the quote tags but leaving the quote tags intact. Then I typed these words. So: There’s no massive waste of screen real estate. It’s obvious I’m replying to some post of @I_Love_Me_Vol.I. Which post? Either click the down-caret at the upper right of the quote box to see the text, or click the up-arrow net to that to scroll the page to that post. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/26 "2020-08-18T13:40:27Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > **BigT** ’s post #6 explains it best. > > Here I’ve just replied to your last post, and there’s nothing in my post to indicate that. Other than, you know, the fact that it comes right after the previous frigging post 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/27 "2020-08-18T13:55:06Z")
> [@codinghorror](#): > > It sounds like you’re generally unhappy with every aspect of this transition. I’m sorry to hear that! > > Have you talked to the mods / site owners about perhaps reverting back to the old forum software, to get things back exactly the way they were in the past? We’d be sad to see you go, but we could certainly assist in that reverse migration if needed. Your snarky response aside, you may not be aware that the administrator for this message board (TubaDiva/Jennifer Paradis) died shortly after we transitioned to Discourse. The people who own and manage the board haven’t yet figured out who will take over for her but in the meantime, few, if any, changes or tweaks have been made. Probably no one else on the board side was as familiar with the Discourse administrative tools as she was. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/28 "2020-08-19T00:39:51Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > **BigT** ’s post #6 explains it best. > > > > Here I’ve just replied to your last post, and there’s nothing in my post to indicate that. > > Other than, you know, the fact that it comes right after the previous frigging post 🤦‍♂️  There was nothing in my post indicating it was a reply to anything at all. It looked like a standalone post. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/29 "2020-08-19T01:00:31Z")
Nothing other than a little thing I like to call “context”. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/30 "2020-08-19T01:06:24Z")
There are lots of posts here where that isn’t apparent. My example was to demonstrate that there was no visual representation of such. While my post was obviously responding to the post above, it truly is not apparent in many other posts. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/31 "2020-08-19T03:35:24Z")
See, this is what I don’t understand. If there is a reply where the fact that it is a reply to the specific prior post isn’t readily apparent, then… it isn’t really a reply to that post, is it? It’s just a general tossing in of the proverbial couple of coppers. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/32 "2020-08-19T03:36:32Z")
And a test, replying (but not replying) to a previous post. ETA: so for conversational flow, replying to the previous post (assuming you are actually responding to what is posted) will definitely be obvious from context. In the event that you reply to any post prior to that, though, no matter how off-topic you might be, the link to the post you clicked reply on is included. I definitely like trimming the unnecessary bloat of repetition of the information from one post ago. I would agree that ALWAYS having the reply indicator would be the best of both worlds (@codinghorror) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/33 "2020-08-19T03:50:20Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > ETA: so for conversational flow, replying to the previous post (assuming you are actually responding to what is posted) will definitely be obvious from context. The trouble is it’s not always obvious whether the person is replying to the post above it, or to the topic in general. It’s obvious here in this thread _because I’ve made it so_. I’ve seen numerous posts in other threads where it’s not obvious at all. And there’s no visual cue in the post showing its a reply, such as an arrow. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/34 "2020-08-19T04:05:18Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > here on Discourse we now have people who “reply” to posts but don’t quote anything at all (yes, I know that is part of what this thread is about). I guess they just click on the “Reply” but without first quoting any part of the post. > > So all that shows up is somebody randomly saying something that replies to something 30-40 posts back in the thread. There is no indication of what they are referring too, I think there is at least the name of the quoted poster maybe. Actually, once you get accustomed to the way Discourse works, this is not a problem. I’m not looking at an example because I am in the “reply” box, but I believe it works something like this: you will see, at the top of the post to the right, an indication that the post is a reply to a particular poster (whose name and avatar will be shown). Along with that, there is a little downward caret you can click. If you click on it, the post being replied to will appear. You can read it, and then click an upward caret to make it disappear again if it’s cluttering your screen. It’s actually kind of a nice feature, once you are conversant with it. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/35 "2020-08-19T08:39:41Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Actually, once you get accustomed to the way Discourse works, this is not a problem. I’m not looking at an example because I am in the “reply” box, but I believe it works something like this: you will see, at the top of the post to the right, an indication that the post is a reply to a particular poster (whose name and avatar will be shown). Along with that, there is a little downward caret you can click. If you click on it, the post being replied to will appear. You can read it, and then click an upward caret to make it disappear again if it’s cluttering your screen. I did not know that. I’ve been searching the entire thread for these mystery passages, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/36 "2020-08-19T18:05:25Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > @codinghorror Can I make a suggestion? > > If you reply to any post except the last one, _without_ quoting anything, you get an indication (above the post on the right) of which post you were replying to, and you can click on it to display the post. As here, it shows that I am replying to a post of **codinghorror**. > > That’s a very useful feature. in fact, I love the way the threading works here. You can immediately see which post is being replied to, as well as all the replies to a post, in place without scrolling. > > If that pop-up link could be shown _**even when the post being replied to is the one immediately above (and not quoted)**_, then that would solve the problem. You will be able to see whether a post is a reply to the previous post or to the whole topic, even though nothing is quoted. This is exactly what I wanted to say. Including that in general I love how threading works here. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/37 "2020-08-31T01:01:31Z")
> [@codinghorror](#): > > It sounds like you’re generally unhappy with every aspect of this transition. I’m sorry to hear that! > > Have you talked to the mods / site owners about perhaps reverting back to the old forum software, to get things back exactly the way they were in the past? We’d be sad to see you go, but we could certainly assist in that reverse migration if needed. A) This seems a bit overly snarky, especially since you know we were using an old version of vB that was in its death throes, so it’s not like we actually can revert. B) The owners of the board did not actually poll or otherwise invite the site users to help with the software selection. Their criteria for the selection is unclear. It is highly likely a majority of posters would have preferred software that emulated the old style of boards more closely. But we didn’t get a vote. C) Even so, many of us are coming around to some of the features. D) **BigT** is correct in pointing out that a number of the features of how specifically Discourse is designed to work have been disabled by the SDMB. In particular, likes and Trust abilities determined by number of posts, as if quantity equals quality. For example, early on our most prolific poster was a guy named **handy** , and while he could meaningfully contribute, he was absolutely not to be trusted anywhere near medical topics. E) **BigT** does not own this board. He doesn’t necessarily represent the majority of posters in this thread, let alone the board as a whole. His say so doesn’t make it happen. F) With our administrator situation in turmoil, it’s even less likely that any suggestions related to switching the forum software _again_ will get any traction. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/38 "2020-09-01T00:03:44Z")
My two cents: 1. It’s annoying having the system edit my posts. If I want to quote the post preceding mine in its entirety, I should be able to do so. 2. If it’s a short post that I am quoting and responding to, it’s even more annoying. What do I trim off to keep the system from editing me? The ending punctuation? 3. If I do quote the previous poster, and the system subsequently edits my post to remove the quote, there is nothing I see that indicates that my post is a reply to that poster. As best I can tell, my post is then indistinguishable from just making an unrelated random post that is replying to no one (like this one). 4. What clutters a message board (IMHO) isn’t necessarily quoting the _previous_ post in its entirety, but quoting any long post in its entirety. One solution might be to simply abbreviate any quoted post beyond a certain length, with the rest hidden. Then if someone wants to see the whole quoted post, they can expand it. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126/39 "2020-09-01T00:10:18Z")
It works like crap and it looks like crap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/may-we-enable-the-ability-to-quote-the-entire-previous-post/918126.md?page=1)