We have got rid of the "Reply" and "Quote" buttons

[Brendan Burgess]

to a non existent problem.

Clutter is a problem.

Clean posts are much better.

And you have not had to edit posts where users insert their comments inside the quoted posts.

The solution might not be the right one, but people should stop saying that there was no problem.

There was and we are experimenting with a solution. If it does not work, we can try something else or revert and just live with the problem.

 

[ClubMan]

Users are already using air quotes as an alternative so now it looks even messier than the collapsed full reply

Yeah, I've noticed that and it's not helping. Not sure why people are doing it when it's easy to select the relevant text and click the "Reply" button that pops up under the selected text? I've been doing this solely on Android so far and it works fine. I'd expect that it's even easier on a PC where you have the mouse for doing the selection.

The only slight annoyance that I've found is that if I quote part of one post and then move the cursor to before this and quote part of another post, the latter always gets inserted at the end of the post being composed even though I want it at the start. And then I have to switch to BB (not Brigitte Bardot or Brendan Burgess) code edit mode to fix it.

I guess that I should just quote the bits that I need in the opposite order.... Anyway, not a big problem and probably not one at all for most users.

 

[Fortune]

And you have not had to edit posts where users insert their comments inside the quoted posts. I think I can still manage to mess that up.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Yeah, I've noticed that and it's not helping.

It might be tricky to reply to the two different bits

I've been doing this solely on Android so far

Ah, it's not.

Anyway, not a big problem and probably not one at all for most users.

I don't understand your issue?

If you want to quote a few different bits of a post, they you can do so.
Highlight the first piece, and hit reply.
Hightlight the second piece, and hit reply. It come aferwards.

 

[Persia]

Not sure why people are doing it when it's easy to select the relevant text and click the "Reply" button that pops up

Ah got it. Thanks.Presumed it was within the toolkit in the reply box.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

And you have not had to edit posts where users insert their comments inside the quoted posts.

And you have not had to edit posts where users insert their comments inside the quoted posts.

To write within the quotes, you have to click the closed brackets to turn on the code as far as I can see.
Maybe you had to do that the old way as well, but it was frequently done.

@Fortune

It is now quite difficult for you to mess this up.

You have to do so deliberately whereas in the past it was accidental.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Ah got it. Thanks.Presumed it was within the toolkit in the reply box.

I don't understand. Why was this not clear from my original post?

If you want to quote a selection of a post, highlight it, and hit the "Reply" button.

 

[Persia]

I don't understand. Why was this not clear from my original post?

I confess to not reading it properly as was uup to my neck in it yesterday and only paid peripheral attention Brendan.

 

[ClubMan]

I don't understand your issue?

If you want to quote a few different bits of a post, they you can do so.
Highlight the first piece, and hit reply.
Hightlight the second piece, and hit reply. It come aferwards

I just thought that highlighting text in a post and clicking reply would quote the selected text in the message composition box where the cursor is currently placed and not always at the end. Now that I know that it does the latter I can work with that.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

1. Who is God?
2. God is our father in Heaven and Creator and Lord of all things.
3. Where is God?
4. God is everywhere but his head.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

1. Who is God?

Put the cursor at the end of the first quote and press enter and you can reply

2. God is our father in Heaven and Creator and Lord of all things. If you put the cursor at the end of bit you want to quote and start typing, it will be in the bit quoted.

3. Where is God?

4. God is everywhere but his head.

Or you can reply to two bits together.

 

[Fortune]

You have to do so deliberately whereas in the past it was accidental.

Exactly the same way of making that mistake in Android now as it was before.

 

[Fortune]

God

in

Heaven

I never knew how to have multiple quotes before, so there is an advantage (or else the controversy caused a clear explanation to be posted).

 

[mathepac]

No controversy, just the reported clear breach of posting guidelines and users' inability or unwillingness to use the existing tools.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Exactly the same way of making that mistake in Android now as it was before.

Maybe the same way but it should happen a lot less.

People were just hitting the reply button so every post contained a quote.

This way, people will have to selectively quote the bit of the post they want.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I never knew how to have multiple quotes before, so there is an advantage

That has not changed. It was always possible to do multiple quotes.

 

[jimmij]

1. Who is God?
2. God is our father in Heaven and Creator and Lord of all things.
3. Where is God?
4. God is everywhere but his head.

5. Who is the Pope?
6. The Pope is Bishop of Rome and Christ's vicar on earth and the visible Head of the Church.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

5. Who is the Pope?
6. The Pope is Bishop of Rome and Christ's vicar on earth and the visible Head of the Church.

Now you are quoting stuff which is not there. But you could have done that under the old system as well I suppose.

Brendan

p.s. I am not infallible

 

[Leo]

But you could have done that under the old system as well I suppose.

Yes, was just as easy to manipulate quoted text previously.

 

[ClubMan]

FWIW I like the new arrangement once I got over the loss of the Reply and Quote buttons.

The only gotcha that I've noticed so far is that it's not possible (or maybe just not easy?) to quote a post that contains only a URL (maybe just on mobile?) as when you select it the browser pops up its context menu.