# Where is the key to the little boxes on the left? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 17, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150 "2009-10-17T17:48:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/1 "2009-10-17T17:48:23Z")
Lock is fairly obvious. Blue and yellow envelopes are what? And there is sometimes a curious little blue square with a chevron meaning what? Are there others? What are these things called in boardspeak? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/2 "2009-10-17T17:52:54Z")
The key is at the bottom of each forum page. Lock: Thread is locked. Blue, closed envelope: You’ve read the posts in that thread, or there are no new posts since you last logged in. Yellow, open envelope: New posts in that thread. Not sure what you mean by the chevron box. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/3 "2009-10-17T18:02:46Z")
The “chevron” appears on threads with new posts, and will take you to the first unread post in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/4 "2009-10-17T18:17:26Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > The “chevron” appears on threads with new posts, and will take you to the first unread post in that thread. :smack: Yup – what he said. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/5 "2009-10-17T18:19:14Z")
Thanks. I have now found the key to some of them at the bottom of some pages. What are they called? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/6 "2009-10-17T19:40:11Z")
I have no idea, so would like to propose Tom, Dick, Harry, and Sally. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/7 "2009-10-17T21:59:53Z")
Sorry, the second one just doesn’t look like a dick to me. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/8 "2009-10-17T22:41:00Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Sorry, the second one just doesn’t look like a dick to me. Most of the Dicks are in the Pit. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/9 "2009-10-18T02:04:52Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Most of the Dicks are in the Pit. 😉 Not all of them, alas. **angelic smiley** ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/10 "2009-10-18T09:51:16Z")
while we’re asking about the little icons, how does the “multi-quote” feature (middle icon at the bottom right of each post) work? I’ve never been able to figure that out. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/11 "2009-10-18T10:54:40Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > while we’re asking about the little icons, how does the “multi-quote” feature (middle icon at the bottom right of each post) work? I’ve never been able to figure that out. You push it for all the posts in the thread you want to quote, then you click the “Post Reply” button at the bottom of the page. When you see the post editor, it will have all those quotes in it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/12 "2009-10-18T16:24:08Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You push it for all the posts in the thread you want to quote, then you click the “Post Reply” button at the bottom of the page. When you see the post editor, it will have all those quotes in it. It should also work if you click on the Quote button in any of the posts you’ve highlighted the multi-quote icon. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/13 "2009-10-19T00:12:45Z")
> [@Your lunch today](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-lunch-today/514061/1): > > Mine consists of moist wheat bread, sliced baby carrots, tuna with plenty of mayo and a slice of extra sharp cheddar cheese. I sliced the baby carrots down their middle, length wise, so they give a satisfying snap as I bite into the sandwich. > > Gotta say, not too bad. Oh, and I washed it down with the remaining flat ginger ale in a cold 2 liter bottle (the only way to drink it!). > > So, what did you have? One bite of broccoli and bacon quiche. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > It should also work if you click on the Quote button in any of the posts you’ve highlighted the multi-quote icon. As you can see, it also works across multiple threads and forums. No use for that occurs to me at the moment, butcha never know. (The first post is from Cafe Society, asking what we had for lunch today.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-key-to-the-little-boxes-on-the-left/514150/14 "2009-10-19T03:46:27Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You push it for all the posts in the thread you want to quote, then you click the “Post Reply” button at the bottom of the page. When you see the post editor, it will have all those quotes in it. And the quotes will appear in the order you clicked their quote tags, not the order they appear in the thread.