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I am interested to know about this myself. I've recently been called a liar and a jerk because someone thinks I misquoted him (though I didn't quote him at all, and I began my post by asking if I understood him to mean such and such.) My access to the internet is through MSNTV.net, i.e., WebTV. I do not have the tools to "point and click". If I use a direct quote, I must first write it out in long-hand, then type it in. Because of medical problems, this is extremely time consuming and tiring.

I don't care to have such invectives thrown my way again, and I know that if I could use the Quotes function, I might keep misunderstandings to a minimum.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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I have been advised to find out how to post to the board using quotations from previous messages.

Would someone please tell me where the instructions for this are?

Thanks.

Brent

or you can just go:

[ quote] quote what text it was and then put [ /quote]

but with no spaces

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If I understand you two correctly, there is a "reply" button on the bottom right of each post which will allow you to quote that particular post.

I think oldsalt and I have figured this one out already!....we are old but not senile :confused:

I can quote a whole post easily enough, but I see others using quotes much more precisely, creatively and usefully than that.....e.g. if I want to reply to a long post and do it in sections. If I press reply I get the whole of the persons post in the new message window, together with some control characters.."QUOTE" etc. But if I then start inserting my text in between that posts paragraphs or sentances and press "preview post" or "add reply" my message doesn't show up neatly interspersed among the other post as I have seen it done by others.

I assume I am missing other necessary control characters to do this? If so is there a list explainig their use anywhere?

Regards,

Brent

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Greedy Capitalist:

I don't know what you are talking about because I cannot read what is on the buttons. I had to play around before I found the button to write a reply. Same for the edit button. This is because I do not use a monitor, I use a TV screen, which by its nature is much less sharp. Would you mind giving me some directions, telling me exactly where I can find the proper button?

I'm sorry to be such a pain in the behind about all of this. I can only do what I can do. The technology I use is what I can afford to use. It isn't much, but it allows me to come here, and that is much more than I ever had before. As much as I hate to ask for a flat favor, I ask you to bear with me.

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I don't know what you are talking about because I cannot read what is on the buttons.  I had to play around before I found the button to write a reply.  Same for the edit button.  This is because I do not use a monitor, I use a TV screen, which by its nature is much less sharp.  Would you mind giving me some directions, telling me exactly where I can find the proper button?

I'm sorry to be such a pain in the behind about all of this.  I can only do what I can do.  The technology I use is what I can afford to use.  It isn't much, but it allows me to come here, and that is much more than I ever had before.  As much as I hate to ask for a flat favor, I ask you to bear with me.

Janet, you are an amazing person! That you are able to write long posts with such clarity and precision, using the technology that you have, and combined with the physical difficulties you have told us about before, should be taken as inspiration to some of the younger crowd here who sometimes scratch out somewhat incomprehensible posts, undoubtedly using the best of technology. If I wore a hat, it would be off to you! :dough:

It would be my great pleasure to put a monitor in your hands so that I could benefit even more from postings you can make with better technology. Please email me at my address below and let me know where the monitor is to be sent. Please accept this as the selfish act of a man who has a passion for justice and love for your posts.

As far as the quoting business goes, Release gave in his previous post the essential method to use. Here I will expand on it a bit to include another feature. Note that there may very well be other ways of doing this, but this is what I learned from playing around. (In the following there will be commands in brackets [...] and the first space within the bracket will be blank. I put this blank in there so that editor will not treat the commands in the brackets as something to execute when I just want now to display them for you. When you actually write the commands you should leave out the leading blank within the brackets.)

The commands for quoting come in pairs, one starting and one ending. In order to give reference to the poster you are quoting you use the following commands.

[ quote=PERSON's NAME] text the person wrote [ /quote]

To just quote some text:

[ quote] text you want to quote [ /quote]

In addition, as you hint, you have seen how people combine two levels of quotes. This is done by appropriately pairing commands:

[ quote=SECOND PERSON'S NAME][ quote=FIRST PERSON'S NAME] text by first person [ /quote]

text by second person [ /quote]

That's about it. There is a button next to "Add Reply" which says "Preview Post," and you can play around a bit using the "Preview" until you get the hang of using the "quote" commands.

I look forward to your continuing great posts. And, to even greater ones!

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:dough: Geez louis, Stephen, I hardly know what to say! Thank you for the pat on the back; I can't tell you what it means to me because your words and your generous offer leave my mind sputtering.

There are two reasons why I cannot except your offer, however: WebTV is made to connect to a television. I'm not sure you can connect it to a computer monitor. Also, I wouldn't have room for it. My husband and I live on a tiny sailboat. Our TV, VCR and WebTV are all stashed into a corner in the V-berth. I don't know where I would put a monitor.

I've been saving my can money for a while now and I hope to get a lap-top in the future. The way the prices are dropping, I ought to be able to get a fairly decent one for not much money. Aside from the space concern, a lap-top is usually sturdier and does better in the harsh marine environment. (You wouldn't believe how many TV's we've gone through, which is why we now opt for inexpensive models.)

You could help me when I'm ready to buy one, though. I know very little about what to buy. When I try to do the research I face jargon that might as well be klingon for all that I'm able to understand it. This ignorance is a drag. It is hard to try to learn about something when you have nothing to use as a reference. I would appreciate a little expert help.

As for HTML, I have managed to learn a bit. My problem isn't with the commands; I have no way to copy the post I want to address to the field of my post. When I directly quote someone, I must write it out in longhand and then type it in. This just wears me out, so I try to state my understanding of what the poster wrote and I address that. I don't know if you've seen the response from MisterSwig on the "Peikoff for Kerry" thread, but I would like to avoid another such occurance if possible. Plus it would help me to be able to directly reference my responses.

Would the button spoken of above allow me to capture a whole post without any "click and point" (which I'm unable to do)? If so, please tell me which button it is -- for instance, is it the button on the bottom, second from the left? If so, can I then enter the field of the quote and delete what I don't want? And, how do you go about breaking the quote up in order to answer specific points?

Obviously, if the answer to the first question is no, then I won't need the other questions answered.

Thank you again, Stephen. I have been so happy since I found this forum. It's been kinda lonesome studying all by myself all these years. This is the first real contact I've had with other Objectivists, other than taking two taped courses and seeing Miss Rand speak at the Ford Hall -- all of which happened years ago.

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Would the button spoken of above allow me to capture a whole post without any "click and point" (which I'm unable to do)?  If so, please tell me which button it is -- for instance, is it the button on the bottom, second from the left?  If so, can I then enter the field of the quote and delete what I don't want?  And, how do you go about breaking the quote up in order to answer specific points?

Here's how you do it.

Press the "reply" button you are already using.

You will get text that looks like this: (without the *)

[*quote=oldsalt,Aug 31 2004, 02:04 AM]

First sentence. Second Sentence. Third sentence.[*/quote]

====

If you want to delete text, put the "begin quote" and "end quote" where you want it:

[*quote=oldsalt,Aug 31 2004, 02:04 AM]

Second Sentence.[*/quote]

====

If you want to intersperse comments, do it like this:

[*quote=oldsalt,Aug 31 2004, 02:04 AM]

First sentence.[*/quote]

YOUR COMMENTS.

[*quote] Second Sentence. Third sentence.[*/quote]

MORE OF YOUR COMMENTS.

====

If you want to quote someone else, do it like this:

[*quote=Ayn Rand, Romantic Manifesto]

What Ayn Rand wrote.[*/quote]

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Janet, I see that Betsy (hopefully) answered your questions about quoting.

In regard to the laptop, I am far from being any sort of expert, but I think I know enough to be of some help. Feel free to email me when the time comes, but I bet that there are many others here who could really help you with your choice.

I am so glad that life is a bit happier for you now, and I hope it continues in that direction. It seems like you deserve it.

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I know very little about what to buy.  When I try to do the research I face jargon that might as well be klingon for all that I'm able to understand it. 

Janet,

The easiest way to get a good deal is to watch a deals page like this one. When you see a price that you like, follow the instructions and get a good deal. :rolleyes: He regularly puts up deals for nice Dell laptops for $650-1,000.

I wouldn't worry about the options if you are not playing games or doing photo editing, etc. These Dells come with all of the nice options and you can always customize to get what you need. If you have any questions about options, feel free to PM me.

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Betsy:

The "reply" button I use is at the bottom of the thread page. Nothing comes up but a blank page. I think that means that there is a "reply" button located somewhere on the post I want to reply to.

I'm going to use this thread to play around a bit and make myself a schematic of the page format. I don't know why I haven't done it before and saved everyone a lot of bother.

Thanks for the tips; I'll be able to use them when I find the right button!

Stephen: Thank you once again. Your words always give me a boost.

Bowzer: Thank you for the link and the offer of help.

Now, I hope I don't blow anything up! (Do I sound like an old no-nothing or what? I wish I had a 5 yr. old around to show me what to do. :rolleyes: )

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Janet,

The easiest way to get a good deal is to watch a deals page like this one. When you see a price that you like, follow the instructions and get a good deal.  :D He regularly puts up deals for nice Dell laptops for $650-1,000.

I wouldn't worry about the options if you are not playing games or doing photo editing, etc. These Dells come with all of the nice options and you can always customize to get what you need. If you have any questions about options, feel free to PM me.

ALRIGHT! Found the right button!

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  • 2 years later...

Sorry for dredging up an ancient thread. My question is directly related, though.

Ages ago, Betsy gave this example:

[*quote=Ayn Rand, Romantic Manifesto]

What Ayn Rand wrote.[*/quote]

Now I'm sure the board has undergone several upgrades since then, but I notice now that this particular construction doesn't work exactly as expected. Here's what I mean:

Henry Dorn sat at his desk and looked at a sheet of blank paper.

See? The quote tag, using the comma construction [*quote=Ayn Rand, Romantic Manifesto], returns "QUOTE(Ayn Rand @ Romantic Manifesto)." The comma becomes an asperand, which doesn't really make any sense. It makes more sense if you do something like [*quote=Betsy, 11:32 AM on Aug 31 2004], which does this:

Here's how you do it.

See, that makes more sense.

Also, I noticed that the quote tag appended when one clicks the +QUOTE or REPLY buttons actually sets arguments like 'name,' 'date' and 'post'. For example, [*quote name=Betsy' date='Aug 31 2004, 11:32 AM' post='53339], which renders like the first quote box of this post. You still get the asperand, but setting the 'post' argument also gets you the little snapback link. It's like the comma construction is parsed as passing the text before the comma to the 'name' argument, and the text after it to the 'date' argument. Presumably, a comma construction like [*quote=Betsy, 'Aug 31 2004, 11:32 AM', 53339] will render exactly like [*quote name=Betsy' date='Aug 31 2004, 11:32 AM' post='53339] by passing the text after the second comma (not counting the one in the string) to the 'post' argument. But it turns out that this is not the case.

All this suggests to me that the quote tag is a much more powerful tool than the BB Code Help page's simple example suggests. Is there a more formal and thorough exegesis on the quote tag, with all its various available arguments, additional formatting options, &c.? So that one might unleash the raw, exciting citation power of the BB Code quote tag?

-Q

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