Posted on 04/09/2005 11:51:09 AM PDT by BJungNan
Lately there seems to be some slippage of what has been for years the common style for replying to posts. In the interest of FR Stylebook maintenance, here is what has been proper style on replying to comments in a thread.
The common form for replies is as follows:
1. Quote the person you are replying to with italics (if you are replying to someone specifically and what they said).
2. Seperate with a paragraph mark.
3. Show your reply in regular text
Example:
Even after five years (or so) of reading FR, I still find myself amazed at the quality of discussion and the wealth of information, especially posts from the many experts that are members of FR. Who would have thought we would have experts in typefonts of all things (to Dan Rather's chagrin).
You sure have that right BJungNan. Jim and FR are the greatest!
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Placing the comments of the person you are replying to in quote marks or in Bold may get the job done, but really it is not common style. At least not to my FR eyes. Those using quotes perhaps don't know html but it is really easy. FR is where many people learned html. Somewhere on here is an html sandbox (perhaps someone can offer up that link).
I feel like I'm back at work with IBM Corporation in the 80s, learning the old GML tags.
I know how to do HTML.
I just object to the wasted effort with no beefit.
Gore TV hasn't started transmitting. That will happen in August.
¿Hola cómo es usted? ¿Me puede dirigir usted a la más cercana oficina de la Seguridad social? Tengo todo el papeleo inclusive un permiso de conducir y tarjeta verde. Trabajará para pequeño o ningún dinero. Gracias mi amigo para contestar en el avance.
I never understood the rationale for making 'any' HTML tag turn off auto-formatting rather than having auto paragraph formatting be controlled by the absense of [br] or [p] tags, auto-URL formatting triggered by the absense of [a] tags, and auto-& conversion triggered by the absense of valid character entities.
Actually, I wish there were a pseudo-tag that could be used to automatically convert single line breaks to [br] and double line breaks to [p] within a specified region (somewhat like [pre], but without the other implications thereof). Ideally, this tag would have one flavor for [p] tags only (ignoring single line breaks), and one for both [p] and [br].
Whatever happened to scrolling text?
Mark to read what has to be a classic funny thread.
I figure it this way...
If Jimrob wants us to set off the posts we are replying to in a separate style, he would have given us a separate, box already italicized for us to copy it into....
He wouldnt expect us to wrestle with HTML....right Jim??
He is trying to teach you...and you are one darn difficult student LOL
Sombody did some good work changing the pudgy kid into a pudgy Michael More. I love it. Great job!
Do you remember the older version of FR, where style bombs (unclosed tags or misused style elements) could cause havoc?
I posted the tags for the benefit of those who may not know HTML. I used your post as the springboard. No offense intended.
I just object to the wasted effort with no be[n]efit.
Ahh, but there is a benefit. Those who have been here a while may or may not know the little numbers under each post link back to the post you're commenting on. Someone new to the forum wouldn't necessarily know that and would therefore have no idea what your comment relates to or how to find it.
May I also suggest that the person who posts differentiate his/her reply between
- the first person who posted
- the author of the material that the first person posted.
For example, Travis posts an article by Ward Churchill. Now, Jeff Head responds to the post. Here are two possible responses:
- Travis, thanks for this post. I agree, Mr. Churchill has some problems.
- Ward Churchill, what is your problem?
Clearly identifying the person being addressed will prevent misunderstanding.
Indeed I do. Too bad that JR has totally disabled style properties, though. Some of them allowed a level of precision in text formatting that wasn't available via any other means. It was pretty cool being able to use pitures as table backgrounds and use styles to precisely place labeling text. My personal favorite was a picture of all sorts of bags that had big "GUN" labels on the side; using nothing but HTML, I changed all the labels to say "STEAL ME".
I remember one FReeper dude with vision problems who would periodically set a whole thread to some humongous font size rather than just adjust his own personal settings.
Definitely did :-(
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