Replying to people in your thread.

[Ohio12]

I sure wish there was a way to reply to someone who replied to you in your thread. I am forever trying to answer someone's follow up question and then someone thinks I was replying to them and it gets confusing. Wouln't it be possible to make the "quick reply" something that you could use to post right under the person's comment, so that you knew what it was responding to. (not the most elequent gripe I know) but does anyone else wish for this feature? :confused:

 

It would also be nice to thank people who gave really thoughtful advice, but there is no easy way to just click on their reply and say "thanks for those great ideas"

[Gailmegan]

I'm not sure if this is the best solution, but when I read a post that I want to reply to directly, I hit the "Quote" button in the bottom right-hand corner of tha post. It quotes waht that poster wrote in the beginning of my post, so it's easy to tell who I am addressing. If I only want to include part of the post, I just delete the quoted sections that are not related.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

You can click the quote button and that will let people know who you are responding to. It's taken me quite awhile to figure out the ins and outs of all this too, but, it's coming to me!

[Ohio12]

You can click the quote button and that will let people know who you are responding to. It's taken me quite awhile to figure out the ins and outs of all this too, but, it's coming to me!

 

Thanks Dayle. Here I am trying it!

[Plaid Dad]

For personal thank-yous, I will send a PM, and for good advice, positive rep. People seem to appreciate it, and it doesn't result in a long series of thank-you posts on the boards. :)

[Chris in VA]

Are you using the linear thread mode? You see the posts in order of posting time if you do.

But, if you use the hybrid mode, you can see where the posts under the other posts are--to reply to someone directly, you just do the quick reply in their post. It shows up then in the hybrid mode.

Geez, did that make any sense at all? lol

[Laura K (NC)]

Just to the right of the quote button is a "quick reply" icon that looks like a piece of paper and a quill. Hit that one every time.

 

Then, and this is very important, once the quick reply screen shows up, go underneath the typing field to the "go advanced" button. That will allow you to create a title to your post, which is very helpful to those reading in the threaded/hybrid mode. I can tell the folks who read in threaded mode... their posts always have titles!

 

Keep poking around in your user control panel. You'll see all kinds of neat things. :)

[GailV]

I can tell the folks who read in threaded mode... their posts always have titles!

 

 

 

But, lo, they aren't that great when reading in linear. You end up missing out on that part of the message (the title) since it tends to recede into the background of the posting. And, since the non-WTM boards I'm tend to favor linear, that's what I use here.

 

Actually, I assumed the post titles were from people who were still trying to use the board like it used to be, particularly in reference to writing "nt" in the message.

[EKS]

I don't know the answer but when I first read your post I thought it said "Replying to people in your head":)

[nmoira]

Please, please, please, always quote a bit of the post you are responding too.

 

But, lo, they aren't that great when reading in linear. You end up missing out on that part of the message (the title) since it tends to recede into the background of the posting. And, since the non-WTM boards I'm tend to favor linear, that's what I use here.

Another thing about using subject lines as your text is that they aren't quoted when someone is responding to your post, and the subject line isn't included in notification emails. It's annoying getting blank notification emails. Even worse, in long thread it's impossible to tell what someone is "me tooing." If there is, for example, a discussion about different curricula and someone only responds with their experience and neglects to either quote the previous poster or mention its name, there's no way to tell what's being referred to without switching modes.

 

I read in linear mode because it reduces my time on the board -- all the new posts are together at the bottom of the thread; I suspect that many or most of those on more than one vBulletin board also read in linear mode.

[Storm Bay]

I did threaded mode for a while, but it's nothing but trouble in the long run:glare:. I now go for the quoting unless I'm just making a general reply or one specific to the OP. So, no quote here. Also, if it's a general reply like this I just click on Post Reply instead of quick reply or quote.