# Question about the formatting of replies on this board.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-formatting-of-replies-on-this-board/258095>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [August 3, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-formatting-of-replies-on-this-board/258095 "2004-08-03T05:21:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Clu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Clu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-formatting-of-replies-on-this-board/258095/1 "2004-08-03T05:21:17Z")

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Hi all,

There are blue lines that separate the posts between members in a thread. In a few instances the width of the blue divider lines varies in size.

I haven’t been able to assess any pattern for the variance. Does it reflect the post replies are directed to?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-formatting-of-replies-on-this-board/258095/2 "2004-08-03T05:52:53Z")

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Questions about the functioning of the board itself tend to go into About This Message Board, and I’m sure a mod will be along shortly to move this over, but in the meantime…

Could you link to an example of this? I’m not sure what you’re talking about, as I haven’t noticed a particular variation of the divider lines. Could you perhaps be looking at the lines that demarcate when someone’s quoting somebody else?

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**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-formatting-of-replies-on-this-board/258095/3 "2004-08-03T06:39:57Z")

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84 posts in two years? Do we smell?

[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=262582) we find some answers in a ATMB Thread.  
(Answers about the blue bars, not about whether or not **Clu** thinks we smell.)

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**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-formatting-of-replies-on-this-board/258095/4 "2004-08-03T07:11:16Z")

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I have 314 posts in 5 years and yes, it’s because you smell.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-formatting-of-replies-on-this-board/258095/5 "2004-08-03T22:20:09Z")

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Off to ATMB.

bibliophage  
moderator GQ

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**Author:** ![Clu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Clu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-formatting-of-replies-on-this-board/258095/6 "2004-08-04T02:44:50Z")

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Thanks, **Bienville**.