Editing a Quote In A Reply Message

[MikeRivers]

Speaking of the worst manuals, can someone please write a manual on managing a quote when replying to a message here? I have never been able to figure out how to consistently quote part of the message to which I'm replying without having the formatting screw up. Sometimes it seems that I do it right, other times it seems that I don't. And it's next to impossible to split the quote into multiple sections and follow each section with a reply.

Do I need to get a book on HTML coding? I sometimes have better success when I click the HTML tab, change the blockquotes to just  plain quotes, but then the pretty border goes away.

 

[blue2blue]

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MikeRivers wrote:

Speaking of the worst manuals, can someone please write a manual on managing a quote when replying to a message here? I have never been able to figure out how to consistently quote part of the message to which I'm replying without having the formatting screw up. Sometimes it seems that I do it right, other times it seems that I don't. And it's next to impossible to split the quote into multiple sections and follow each section with a reply.

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MikeRivers wrote:

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Do I need to get a book on HTML coding? I sometimes have better success when I click the HTML tab, change the blockquotes to just  plain quotes, but then the pretty border goes away.

 

 You can split it -- and even without having to go into the potentially confusing (to normal folk, anyhow) HTML view.  

 

Simply select the whole quote (if there's nothing else in the post, in Windows you should be able to do so by hitting ctrl-A with the cursor in the edit window), ctrl-c it into the copy/paste buffer, move the cursor down, and ctrl-v to paste a second copy into the page. Then simply delete and annotate as necessary.

But, of course, always be careful. Very bad form to mangle what purports to be a direct quote!       

[MikeRivers]

Huh?  So you make two copies, edit one, add the reply, then edit the other and add the rest of the reply? 

That seems like a lot of work to make a neat reply.

Thing is that when I've chopped up a quote and start to type my reply below the box, sometimes it won't let me go there. I can only put my cursor inside the box so it looks like my reply is part of the quote.

[blue2blue]

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blue2blue wrote:

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MikeRivers wrote:

Speaking of the worst manuals, can someone please write a manual on managing a quote when replying to a message here? I have never been able to figure out how to consistently quote part of the message to which I'm replying without having the formatting screw up. Sometimes it seems that I do it right, other times it seems that I don't. And it's next to impossible to split the quote into multiple sections and follow each section with a reply.

[...]

 

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MikeRivers wrote:

[...]

Do I need to get a book on HTML coding? I sometimes have better success when I click the HTML tab, change the blockquotes to just  plain quotes, but then the pretty border goes away.

 

 You can split it -- and even without having to go into the potentially confusing (to normal folk, anyhow) HTML view.  

 

Simply select the whole quote (if there's nothing else in the post, in Windows you should be able to do so by hitting ctrl-A with the cursor in the edit window), ctrl-c it into the copy/paste buffer, move the cursor down, and ctrl-v to paste a second copy into the page. Then simply delete and annotate as necessary.

But, of course, always be careful. Very bad form to mangle what purports to be a direct quote!      

 

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Here's all you have to do, after hitting the 'quote' button and having it insert the quote: 

"Simply select the whole quote (if there's nothing else in the post, in Windows you should be able to do so by hitting ctrl-A with the cursor in the edit window), ctrl-c it into the copy/paste buffer, move the cursor down, and ctrl-v to paste a second copy into the page. Then simply delete and annotate as necessary."

Does that REALLY sound so difficult? Seriously.

It's copy and paste to get the second copy and then make the edits you want. 

To my thinking, it wasn't any easier at all to split a quote in VB.

 

That said, yeah, this editor is pretty lame, no question. The fact that it breaks browser spell-checks and then, if you use its clumsy built-in spell check it INSISTS on trying to 'correct' any quoted material -- obiouvsly a HUGE violation of netiquette -- is yet just one of MANY bits of rather convincing evidence that seem to suggest Lithium used UI designers who were apparently painfully unfamiliar with computer bulletin boards and their conventions.

The Lithium system has one great advantage: it is generally robust and quick. But its UI borders on the abysmal. 

[MikeRivers]

 

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MikeRivers (that's me) wrote:

 

 

Speaking of the worst manuals, can someone please write a manual on managing a quote when replying to a message here? I have never been able to figure out how to consistently quote part of the message to which I'm replying without having the formatting screw up. 

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Hey, I can!  And thanks to blue2blue for the hint to keep copying the original quote into the message.

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And it's next to impossible to split the quote into multiple sections and follow each section with a reply.

 

It's not necessary to highlight, copy to the clipboard, then paste the quote back in, it's only necessary to click the Quote button where you want to insert part of the quote in your reply. It puts the whole quoted original message into the reply (again, and again, and again) and it's necessary to cut ot what you're not replying to in the next paragraph that you write, but it works.