Post by CampKohler on Apr 23, 2013 18:49:56 GMT -8
General
When you click a QUOTE button on an existing message, the text of that message (which may include links to URLs and images) as well as other associated data are inserted at the top of a new message. The author then types his reply and posts it. Let's talk about what the inserted data is.
First let's name the messages for reference purposes:
• The first message - Msg A
• The second message, a reply that quotes the first message - Msg B.
• The third message, a reply that quotes the second message - Msg C.
There is no point in going further, because the quote feature only allows two messages to be nested, i.e. C can quote B which quotes A, but D can only quote C which quotes B.
What quoting a message does
Let the posted text of Msg A be, Some Msg A text. Then clicking the QUOTE button on Msg A inserts the following format into a new Msg B dialog box:
where,
• username is the contents of the author's USER NAME field from his Modify Profile page (not to be confused with the contents of his DISPLAY NAME field of the same page) and
• boardname is the name of the board holding the topic in which the quoted msg (in this case, Msg A) lies, and
• threadnumber is the thread number of the topic in which the quoted msg (in this case, Msg A) lies, and
• postnumber is the message number of the post being quoted (in this case, Msg A), and
• unixtime is the time the quoted msg (in this case, Msg A) was posted (in seconds from 1970 and from which the forum can calculate the real time of posting).
Note that all of the above variables are unique to the forum and not merely to a particular board, topic or post. That is to say, there is only one Topic 42 or Post 189 in the entire forum, and so forth. There is nothing inherently unique about the time, but it is probably unlikely (and if the programming was done right, impossible) for two actions to have the same time as well.
The author then appends his reply to the quoted material and posts Msg B. The forum, using the above data, pulls up the entire contents of Msg A and, as a default, displays it at the top of Msg B. If the author desired, he could type additional material before the quoted material and it would appear there, so, practically speaking, the quoted material may be shifted anywhere in Msg B.
Example:
Quoting a part of a message
Suppose that the author wishes to quote only a portion of Msg A, because, say, his reply is only relevant to one sentence and he, for the sake of the reader, does not wish to clutter up his msg with the irrelevant parts of Msg A. The author is free to edit the quoted material after it is inserted into his reply. In this case, the replying author edits the quoted material and appends his reply as follows:
Being able to edit quoted message text successfully (i.e. without messing things up), depends upon recognizing the inserted data and message text and knowing the difference between the two. You can change the text, but must leave the data untouched.
Quoting a message having a quote within
Say you quote a quoted message. The following format will be inserted into the new dialog box:
where all the variables are the same as explained above, except that the letters A and B have been appended to the variables that are unique to Msg A and Msg B; those variables common to both messages have no such letter.
This is basically one quote within another. The data and text of the first message is wrapped in the data and text of the second message. Again, if you can recognize which data and text belong to which message, you can edit these as necessary to keep your quotes terse.
Rule: It is rotten practice to quote a large volume of irrelevant material (text and pictures) and leave it there for the reader to climb through like some earthquake rubble. You know what is relevant to the reply, so quote only what is necessary. Except in the case of one- or two-sentence quotes, edit out any irrelevant material or don't use the quote at all.
Future work
It might be possible to reduce a quoted image so that you could reproduce a huge image in a thumbnail-like manner for the reader's reference. I'll investigate that next.
Backup file is: HFW_quoting_YYYYMMDD.txt.
When you click a QUOTE button on an existing message, the text of that message (which may include links to URLs and images) as well as other associated data are inserted at the top of a new message. The author then types his reply and posts it. Let's talk about what the inserted data is.
First let's name the messages for reference purposes:
• The first message - Msg A
• The second message, a reply that quotes the first message - Msg B.
• The third message, a reply that quotes the second message - Msg C.
There is no point in going further, because the quote feature only allows two messages to be nested, i.e. C can quote B which quotes A, but D can only quote C which quotes B.
What quoting a message does
Let the posted text of Msg A be, Some Msg A text. Then clicking the QUOTE button on Msg A inserts the following format into a new Msg B dialog box:
[quote author=username board=boardname thread=threadname post=postnumber time=unixtime] Some Msg A text. [/quote]
where,
• username is the contents of the author's USER NAME field from his Modify Profile page (not to be confused with the contents of his DISPLAY NAME field of the same page) and
• boardname is the name of the board holding the topic in which the quoted msg (in this case, Msg A) lies, and
• threadnumber is the thread number of the topic in which the quoted msg (in this case, Msg A) lies, and
• postnumber is the message number of the post being quoted (in this case, Msg A), and
• unixtime is the time the quoted msg (in this case, Msg A) was posted (in seconds from 1970 and from which the forum can calculate the real time of posting).
Note that all of the above variables are unique to the forum and not merely to a particular board, topic or post. That is to say, there is only one Topic 42 or Post 189 in the entire forum, and so forth. There is nothing inherently unique about the time, but it is probably unlikely (and if the programming was done right, impossible) for two actions to have the same time as well.
The author then appends his reply to the quoted material and posts Msg B. The forum, using the above data, pulls up the entire contents of Msg A and, as a default, displays it at the top of Msg B. If the author desired, he could type additional material before the quoted material and it would appear there, so, practically speaking, the quoted material may be shifted anywhere in Msg B.
Example:
[quote author=UncleBob board=Lesson Comments & Everyday Posts thread=68 post=376 time=1363911546]This is sentence one in Msg A. This is sentence two in Msg A.[/quote]
This is some reply text in Msg B.
Quoting a part of a message
Suppose that the author wishes to quote only a portion of Msg A, because, say, his reply is only relevant to one sentence and he, for the sake of the reader, does not wish to clutter up his msg with the irrelevant parts of Msg A. The author is free to edit the quoted material after it is inserted into his reply. In this case, the replying author edits the quoted material and appends his reply as follows:
[quote author=UncleBob board=Lesson Comments & Everyday Posts thread=68 post=376 time=1363911546]This is one sentence of Msg A.[/quote]
I disagree with the first sentence.
Being able to edit quoted message text successfully (i.e. without messing things up), depends upon recognizing the inserted data and message text and knowing the difference between the two. You can change the text, but must leave the data untouched.
Quoting a message having a quote within
Say you quote a quoted message. The following format will be inserted into the new dialog box:
[quote author=usernameA board=boardname thread=threadname post=postnumberA time=unixtimeA][quote author=usernameB board=boardname thread=threadname post=postnumberB time=unixtimeB]Msg A text.[/quote]Msg B text.[/quote]
where all the variables are the same as explained above, except that the letters A and B have been appended to the variables that are unique to Msg A and Msg B; those variables common to both messages have no such letter.
This is basically one quote within another. The data and text of the first message is wrapped in the data and text of the second message. Again, if you can recognize which data and text belong to which message, you can edit these as necessary to keep your quotes terse.
Rule: It is rotten practice to quote a large volume of irrelevant material (text and pictures) and leave it there for the reader to climb through like some earthquake rubble. You know what is relevant to the reply, so quote only what is necessary. Except in the case of one- or two-sentence quotes, edit out any irrelevant material or don't use the quote at all.
Future work
It might be possible to reduce a quoted image so that you could reproduce a huge image in a thumbnail-like manner for the reader's reference. I'll investigate that next.
Backup file is: HFW_quoting_YYYYMMDD.txt.