spritieSILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
2,014 posts
Location: Galveston, TX, USA


Posted:
I was wondering if there was a way to tell specifically who someone was replying to?

I know there is the quote function, but when people don't use it, how do you know which post they are replying to? Am I the only stupid one that can't figure this out?

For instance, say there are posts
a
b
c
d
e

someone then replies to post b and thus creates a new post f. To the reader who doesn't know better, it looks like post f is a response to post e.

I know I can change my viewing options from flat to threaded, but that doesn't seem to help much since I can't see what is in each post without clicking on it, and many times there are at least 20 in this phase that look the same.

UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
Usually... it is in reference to the directly above post.

This may not awlays be true, particularly in the case of people with faster connections being able to reply to somehting quicker than someone on dial up.

Another big clue is quoting someone.

DO NOT QUOTE THE PERTSON DIRECTLY ABOVE YOU! Everyone knows who you are replying to, so you dont need to take up anymore of my valuable screen space. Thats not directed at you Spritie, but at everyone in general...and I know for a fact that other HOPpers list this amongst their annoyances.

smile

colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
the board used to tell you whose post you'd clicked reply on.



but for some reason it was removed by the site admin.



i think it was cos a few people said it confused them or maybe because it suggested that their reply was directed at an individual rather then generally to the thread.



for what its worth, i liked it too smile



i'd would prefer to see it back as it really saves unnecessary quoting and saves confusion in instances like fast moving threads where you click reply and two extra people have posted in the time it takes you to write your post.



shrug





cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
ditto

and ta for filling in all the blanks I left out.

See you tonight wink

AnonymousPLATINUM Member


Posted:
And it would make it clear when people don't read any other posts but the first one.

onewheeldaveGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,252 posts
Location: sheffield, United Kingdom


Posted:
I was one of the people who critisised the old method as using the 'quick reply' box always inserted a 'reply to '- which wasn't right; many of the posts I made were to the thread in general.

Other people agreed with that and admin disabled something which led to the current situation.

IMO the best solution would be one in which the 'quote' function is available (as it is now); the 'quick reply' would register as a general reply to the whole thread as it is now); and there would also be an option to use the 'reply' button on any given particular post and that would register as 'reply to....'.

That way everything makes total sense. I suspect however that that would involve a fair bit of work for the admin team (otherwise they'd presumably have done that in the first place).

For now, given a choice between the old system and the current one, I prefer the current one as it's 'fault' (of lacking reply to a given post) can be got around simply by quoting part of the post.

Whereas the old systems 'fault' (of not allowing a non-specific reply) could not be got around- every reply came with a reference to a specific post even though, in most cases, they were not intended to be replies to individual posts.

I actually found it a bit offensive when I wrote a post, to have some automated process insert into it, the claim that I'm replying to an specific individual, when I'm not.

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!


colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
[Old link]

but i see your point about directed posts - if it was possible to get the 'quick reply' to automatically reply to the first post i think everyone would be happy.


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood



Similar Topics

Using the keywords [reply whom] we found the following existing topics.

  1. Forums > Reply to whom? [6 replies]

      Show more..

HOP Newsletter

Sign up to get the latest on sales, new releases and more...