I’m putting this in IMHO, because it’s a poll, and not a question.
I’m not really asking about composition in the sense of content and style, but they could enter into your answer. I want to know how you habitually go about posting to the board.
I usually use the “Quick Reply” box. This ensures that my posts are timely, topical, up-to-the-minute, and not particularly well thought out. When I say “usually,” I mean “just about every time.”
This means that I have to type out the vB Code stuff for every effect I want. The only exceptions are when I click the “New Thread” button (like now, but I don’t do it often) or the “Quote” button (which I hit when I want to dissect a post).
Like now. Looking to the left of my screen, I see the “smilie” menu. I don’t think I’ve ever clicked one, or if I have, I don’t do it so often that I notice. Looking to the top (and scrolling up), I see the buttons that will allow me to adjust the appearance of my text, like this. I find that annoying. I usually do it like this. The characters are all on the keyboard, and I don’t have to screw with the mouse.
In addition, the window is to narrow when I do it this way. I keep having to scroll up and down to view what I’ve written. The “Quick-Reply” window is much wider.
I have also never written something in MS Word or NotePad, or anything like that, and C&P’ed it and posted it. I always just type.
I type out initially in the “quick reply” box and if it’s longer than a few sentences or I want to use coding that I haven’t memorized yet since I post so not often, I hit preview and then I can edit and/or use the short cuts I need. This in no way guarantees that I won’t find a typo or screwed up coding the second I hit the submit button, of course.
But, just for you exgineer, I’m going to throw caution to the wind and just hit submit this time. I know, I’m such a wild woman.
I type in this little box at the bottom of the page (is it the “Quick Reply” box?). The only effect I use is to type the smiley face which I do with the keyboard.
Last night, I learned how to make a “spoiler” box. Let’s see if it works:
The Allies won World War II.
When I’m done, I go back and change half of what I’ve typed, because I’ve usually thought of a better way to say it. Then I just hit “submit reply”, before I change my mind again.
I use the little box at the bottom. I start out with a brace then color then equal then quote then purple then quote then brace. I start shooting my fat mouth off. I type brace then slash then color then equal sign then quote then purple then quote then brace.
I do not use smilies. If I am unable to convey a mood with my words then I have utterly failed because people should be able to glean intent or meaning from words and phrases. Also that eyeroll emoticon is patently offensive.
Quick-reply box almost exclusively, barring thread-starts–which are rare because when I do thread-starts, they also tend to be thread-stops.
I do most quoting manually, via manual tags and copy-and-pasted bits, and generally try to avoid whole-post dissections nowadays.
After I compose things, I tend to select everything I just typed and copy it, just in case a) the boards freeze up upon submit and b) it turns out afterwards that it didn’t catch the text before connection timed out or whatnot.
I rarely use the quote function or the HTML so I usually just type in the reply text field at the bottom of the thread. I use the preview button to give my post a quick read and then I hit submit.
I use the “Post Reply” button. I don’t know what the “Quick Reply” is. Sometimes I use a smilie. Infrequently I use the quote or bold or italics. I try to preview, too. Have not been on the board much due to travel. Ciao!
Quick reply box: I do the coding whilst I type, scan for typos, grammar and general structure, copy the message (Ctrl+C) just in case my browser decides to mess up, preview and then send.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Exgineer *
**I’m putting this in IMHO, because it’s a poll, and not a question.
This means that I have to type out the vB Code stuff for every effect I want. The only exceptions are when I click the “New Thread” button (like now, but I don’t do it often) or the “Quote” button (which I hit when I want to dissect a post).
Oh, is that how that happens? I feel like such a newbie sometimes.
I usually use quick reply, and only use preview if I post a link (to make sure it’s good) or do a lot of coding (ditto).
On this one, since the quote is new for me, I’ll do preview.
Quick reply box except when quoting. Once in awhile, I’ll use the editing box if I plan to make a point that requires special formatting, but that’s exceeingly rare.
I type in my code, though I do use a macro to set things up for links.
I write the post in one pass, then go back and edit it when I’m done. I’ve been posting online for over 15 years, and to forums where you need to be able to be articulate, so it’s second nature to me.
Most of the time I use the quick reply box. If I am going to post a long reply then I usually open Notepad and type and edit there before I C&P to the board.
I generally only use the Quick Reply box for one-liners.
For some reason, my experience with the Quick Reply has been that if the board is at all twitchy, my reply will hang up when I preview with Quick Reply–and hitting the “Back” button from a hung up Preview frequently gives me a blank reply page. So, I usually click the Repond button to compose my posts, even though I usually type in my Quote, Bold, Italic, and Underscore tags by hand. (I do use the “http://” button for links quite a bit, although not all the time.)
I use the quick box. I start writting until I have said what I wanted to say, so it ends up a little rambling If it’s more than one paragraph. Then I go back through and add a bunch of errors like typos and fragments so nobody gets intimidated by my Pulitzer level writting perfection.
which I do with the keyboard.