[Skywise]

(05-27-2015, 02:07 PM)Island Chris Wrote: ...although, as you (Brian) do, quoting pieces that you are replying to is useful.

It is getting hard to find the replies when there is a page or more of previous posts above.

That seems to be a pervasive problem on almost everywhere. It's very common on what's still left of usenet. People will reply quoting 500 lines of text, and they will have a two or three word irrelevant comment at the end.

My thoughts are, it's unnecessary to quote if the reply is just a general follow on. If quoting a specific passage (like here), just quote that. If you are interspersing comments along several points, that get's fun in the editing, but I think it's worth the effort. Makes it easier for others to understand the flow and context of the writing.

It's kinda funny, I hated English classes in school... all that diagramming of sentences and rote memorization of rules that have more exceptions than there are rules. But, something sunk in. I find myself constantly critiquing 'professional' articles. Online news is notorious. Sometimes I have to read a sentence several times before I realize there's a word entirely missing and I finally comprehend what the so-called journalist was trying to say.

But I don't be a grammar nazi about it, though. I just wish folks would take a moment to at least proof read once or twice before hitting 'send'.

Oh, a suggestion.... the board defaults to threaded view, which only shows one message at a time. You can switch it to linear mode and see multiple posts on one page. I find that's easier to scan through. New messages are always at the bottom. This can be set permanently in your user settings. I could change it board wide for everyone, but unless everyone agrees I don't want to confuse anyone.

And, in either mode, when writing a new post, the message(s) being replied to is down below. Just scroll down. Amazing what people miss for lack of using the scroll wheel.

And finally, there's the 'preview post' button so you can see what it all looks like before committing. I do that a lot. I'm always proofreading myself.

Brian