# Using the [QUOTE] [/QUOTE] tags effectively



## Joe Blow

I have noticed that some members are a little confused about how to quote from other members posts so I thought I would try and clarify the issue somewhat.

Firstly, the best way to quote someone's post is simply to go to that post and hit the 'quote' button. You will see it at the bottom right of every post. 
It looks like this: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





.  This will begin a reply to the thread but the entire post you are responding to will be quoted. However, if you are only responding to a particular part of that post you can safely edit out the parts that aren't relevant just so long as you keep the part you are responding to inside the quote tags, which look like this: 






The end result will be this:



			
				Joe Blow said:
			
		

> Keep whatever you are quoting within the quote tags!




If you are quoting a newspaper article or another source, you can simply cut and paste what you want quoted inside the QUOTE tags but without including a user name:






...which will look like this:



> Quote from a newspaper or other source but make sure it always goes inside the QUOTE tags!




To make things clearer, here is an explanation of the uses of vB Code (the series of formatting tags this forum software uses) and how you can use it to format your posts: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/help/bb-codes

If you have any questions or queries please post them in this thread and I will answer them for you.


----------



## visual

Joe,thats why i could never get it right,i kept deleting the quote tags.


----------



## phoenixrising

Thanks Joe, been hanging out for this thread for ages.

Can we do some practise here?


----------



## Joe Blow

phoenixrising said:
			
		

> Thanks Joe, been hanging out for this thread for ages.
> 
> Can we do some practise here?




Sure, go for your life!


----------



## Joe Blow

Just a friendly bump for those who are new or who missed it the first time.


----------



## Julia

Joe Blow said:
			
		

> Just a friendly bump for those who are new or who missed it the first time.




Joe,

As you know I've had difficulty with this before and again last night.
After ensuring I'm typing within the "Quote" (s) when I hit Submit Message or Preview I'm often told "the message you have entered is too short", and this can be with more than ten words.  So what is going wrong.

I'll redo this post following to see if it happens again.

Julia


----------



## visual

Julia,I`ve had that too,but what you have to do is write after the last quote tag,hope this helps,


----------



## Julia

visual said:
			
		

> Julia,I`ve had that too,but what you have to do is write after the last quote tag,hope this helps,




Thanks Visual.  Yes, I finally woke up to what I was doing.  Sorry all.
No excuse.  Just stupid.

Julia


----------



## visual

Julia,not stupid, just computer illiterate


----------



## Julia

visual said:
			
		

> Julia,not stupid, just computer illiterate




Oh, that is so sadly true.  

Julia


----------



## Happy

Joe Blow said:
			
		

> Sure, go for your life!




Hope this comes out right.


----------



## Joe Blow

Another friendly bump as I have noticed that some still haven't mastered the use of the quote tags.


----------



## Happy

Imagine that this thread dropped to the bottom of page 5 in just under 1 month.

Let me bump it too.


----------



## Knobby22

Happy said:
			
		

> testing.




1,2,3


----------



## Duckman#72

Happy said:
			
		

> Imagine that this thread dropped to the bottom of page 5 in just under 1 month.




Testing



			
				Happy said:
			
		

> Let me bump it too.




Testing for the double quote


----------



## Happy

> I wander if double Q can go like this?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This one is inside the first one
Click to expand...



Wish me luck.


----------



## Happy

> Outside
> 
> 
> 
> Centre
> 
> 
> 
> Inside
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...



More luck?


----------



## Happy

For the time being I run out of ideas


----------



## Joe Blow

I like quoting Historical figures:



			
				Karl Marx said:
			
		

> Religion is the opiate of the people.






			
				Albert Einstein said:
			
		

> e=mc2






			
				Richard Nixon said:
			
		

> Well, I screwed it up real good, didn't I?


----------



## Joe Blow

I'm bumping this thread as I have noticed some of the newcomers are having some difficulties in quoting others.

I also wanted to make one other important point. I notice that many members leave *two* blank lines between the end of the post they are quoting and the beginning of their own post. This is entirely unnecessary as an extra blank line is already added automatically. So when you put in *two* blank lines you are actually putting in *three* and that doesn't look right to me as there is too much space between the end of the quote and the beginning of the post. Just thought you should know, especially you Realist!


----------



## ice

The danger with quoting historical figures is that often the quote becomes corrupted over time and the corrupt quote becomes the accepted norm.

E.g. "Alas poor Yorick! I knew him well."

No hints but marks will be awarded.   


ice


----------



## GreatPig

ice said:
			
		

> "Alas poor Yorick! I knew him well."



Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is!

Amazing what you can find on the Net with a quick search 

GP


----------



## Julia

GreatPig said:
			
		

> Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is!
> 
> Amazing what you can find on the Net with a quick search
> 
> GP



GP

And I was about to be immensely impressed by your knowledge of Shakespeare!  Then you ruined it by confessing to a Net search.
I would have done the same.  Have never been attracted to Shakespeare.

Julia


----------



## GreatPig

Julia,

Actually I quite like some Shakespeare, but watching it acted is heaps better than reading it. And I do remember a few short quotes, but not a lot 

Wayne


----------



## jammin

Joe Blow said:


> I'm bumping this thread as I have noticed some of the newcomers are having some difficulties in quoting others.




Thanks Joe, I was going nuts trying to present effective quotes. I have often found that I try to do things the "counter intuitive" way. (Read as "I will do it *my way* untill forced to read the manual")


----------



## Kimosabi

Joe Blow said:


> I'm bumping this thread as I have noticed some of the newcomers are having some difficulties in quoting others.
> 
> I also wanted to make one other important point. I notice that many members leave *two* blank lines between the end of the post they are quoting and the beginning of their own post. This is entirely unnecessary as an extra blank line is already added automatically. So when you put in *two* blank lines you are actually putting in *three* and that doesn't look right to me as there is too much space between the end of the quote and the beginning of the post. Just thought you should know, especially you Realist!




Quoted for Truth...


----------



## Joe Blow

jammin said:


> Thanks Joe, I was going nuts trying to present effective quotes. I have often found that I try to do things the "counter intuitive" way. (Read as "I will do it *my way* untill forced to read the manual")




Glad the thread helped you out jammin!

One other thing I would like to add about the quote tags is to keep them tucked nice and tightly around whatever you are quoting. There is no need to leave even a space on either side. I have noticed some members leaving a few blank lines sometimes and it makes them look a little strange.

See the image below for an example:


----------



## larry123

Thanks for the quote help Joe.  Just another one of your handy hints, hey


----------



## Joe Blow

Just bumping this thread for people who don't understand how the quote tags work or how to use them.

They are VERY easy to use and VERY useful.

Any questions?


----------



## 2BAD4U

How do you use the multi quote buttons?


----------



## doctorj

2BAD4U said:


> How do you use the multi quote buttons?



Click the multiquote button on each post you wish to quote text from, then click reply as though you were normally replying to the thread.  When the page loads, the post's text will be there.


----------



## 2BAD4U

That hasn't worked


----------



## doctorj

Are you clicking 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 this button ONCE on each post you wish to quote, such that it looks like 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




?   Then click the reply button that will look something like


----------



## 2BAD4U

Yep, just did it again and still no go.


----------



## Joe Blow

2BAD4U said:


> Yep, just did it again and still no go.






doctorj said:


> Are you clicking
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> this button ONCE on each post you wish to quote, such that it looks like
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ?   Then click the reply button that will look something like




2BAD4U - Must be a problem with your PC... is working fine here.

Used it to make this post.


----------



## 2BAD4U

2BAD4U said:


> That hasn't worked






2BAD4U said:


> Yep, just did it again and still no go.






Joe Blow said:


> 2BAD4U - Must be a problem with your PC... is working fine here.
> 
> Used it to make this post.




COOKIE monster.


----------



## So_Cynical

doctorj said:


> Click the multiquote button on each post you wish to quote text from, then click reply as though you were normally replying to the thread.  When the page loads, the post's text will be there.



Well that will save me some time...i used to do it all by hand


----------



## Julia

Sorry to be stupid about this, but could you clarify as follows:

if I want to reply to, e.g. post 32 on this thread and also post 34, I should click on the quotation marks and then the Reply Quote button for post 32, and then scroll down to post 34 and repeat this?
Then the result will be both quotes appearing on the Reply form ready for my comments to be inserted?


----------



## Joe Blow

Julia said:


> Sorry to be stupid about this, but could you clarify as follows:
> 
> if I want to reply to, e.g. post 32 on this thread and also post 34, I should click on the quotation marks and then the Reply Quote button for post 32, and then scroll down to post 34 and repeat this?
> Then the result will be both quotes appearing on the Reply form ready for my comments to be inserted?




Hi Julia,

The button with the quotation marks - 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 - is referred to as the 'multi-quote' button. 

When you wish to reply to a specific post you click the 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 button on the post in question and the selected post is automatically enclosed in quote tags in the reply box ready for you to respond.

The 'multi-quote' button is used when you wish to respond to more than one post at once. You can quote two or a dozen or more posts in any thread. Simply go through the thread and click the 'multi-quote' button on each post that you wish to reply to and then click on either the 'Post Reply' button a the end of the thread or the 'Quote' button on any of the posts you have selected. After you click on the 'multi-quote' button in a post it will turn orange - 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 - to indicate you have selected it to be quoted.

All of the posts you selected will be enclosed in their own set of quote tags and automatically inserted into the text area of your reply. All you have to do is edit out the parts of the posts that you feel are irrelevant to your response and then add your response in between each of the sets of quote tags in the reply text area. 

It will look something like this:






A couple of additional hints:


Use the "Preview Post" that is next to "Submit Reply". This will show you how your post will look when you submit it and will give you a text box below that where you can fix up anything that doesn't look right.

Click on the 'multi-quote' button in each post in the order you wish to respond to them in. The forum software remembers which order you clicked the 'multi-quote' buttons in so it is probably best to click on the oldest post first and work your way forwards to the newest.

If anyone has any questions, please ask.


----------



## Buddy

Joe,
Maybe not the right thread for this question but I cant find anything on this topic anywhere else....
How do I paste pictures into a reply.  If I have pictures that are in the body of an email, how do I get them into my "post"?
Buddy


----------



## Joe Blow

Buddy said:


> Joe,
> Maybe not the right thread for this question but I cant find anything on this topic anywhere else....
> How do I paste pictures into a reply.  If I have pictures that are in the body of an email, how do I get them into my "post"?
> Buddy




Hi Buddy,

Save your images from your email to your PC by right clicking on them and selecting 'Save As'.

To attach them to your post, click on the 'Manage Attachments' button that you will see in the 'Additional Options' section immediately below the 'Submit Reply' button. A box will then pop up that will enable to to find the image files on your PC, upload them and attach them to your reply.


----------



## Joe Blow

Can people *please* use the quote tags when quoting from another source. It is incredibly painful trying to read posts where people have not bothered to distinguish between what they have written and what they are quoting.

It is easy, literally takes a couple of seconds and shows some regard for those who have to read your posts.

Thank you.


----------



## tigerboi

*Re:html tags for a debt clock?*

anyone know what tags to throw around the html embed code for a debt clock?i seen someone talking about the clock & i got the embed code but need the tags..any idea?tb


----------



## Joe Blow

*Re: html tags for a debt clock?*



tigerboi said:


> anyone know what tags to throw around the html embed code for a debt clock?i seen someone talking about the clock & i got the embed code but need the tags..any idea?tb




For security reasons we do not allow HTML code to be used in posts (or signatures) on ASF. Instead vBcode is used. Not sure if you can embed the debt clock with vBcode though.


----------



## tigerboi

*Re: html tags for a debt clock?*



Joe Blow said:


> For security reasons we do not allow HTML code to be used in posts (or signatures) on ASF. Instead vBcode is used. Not sure if you can embed the debt clock with vBcode though.




too bad,nope need the html joe...thanks anyway,would of been good for all to see it ticking over...tb


----------



## Joe Blow

Just thought I would add a post to this thread as there has been one important change to the use of quote tags since this thread was started. This is the introduction of the 'View Post' button. The change is due to newer versions of the forum software that have slightly changed the structure of the quote tags.

This first image will show you the quote tags of a typical post:







So you better understand the structure of the quote tags I will break it down element by element.






This is the first part of the quote tag and identifies the author of the post you are quoting.






This is the second section of the opening quote tag and identifies the post number of the post you are quoting. Why is the post number part of the quote tags I hear you ask. Well it is there for a very good reason. This next image will illustrate it.






Notice this button '
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




' next to my user name in the quoted section of the post? This is called the 'View Post' button. When you click on this button it returns you to the actual post the quote is quoted from. This can be useful if someone has only quoted a small part of a post and you would like to read the quoted remarks in the context of the entire post. By having the post number as part of the quote tags it knows where to send you to when you click on the 'View Post' button. Don't forget that a semicolon goes in between the user name of the person you are quoting and the post number in the opening quote tag and serves as a seperator.

The last part of the quote tags is '[/QUOTE]'. This comes after everything you wish to quote and simply closes the quote tags so the forum software knows you have finished quoting. This is something that I see a lot of people forget but is a vital part of using the quote tags. Without it, the quote tags aren't closed and your response to the quote will be indistinguishable from the quote itself. Please be sure to always close the quote tags when you have finished quoting from another post.

Hope that all makes sense. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.


----------



## Harleyquin

Joe Blow said:


> Just thought I would add



Testing to see if I can get the tags right.


----------



## Kash Kosmo

If possible for this to be added by mods 
A button called Mark & Quote

This feature/button will insert in quote form only the highlighted text


----------



## Julia

Kash Kosmo said:


> If possible for this to be added by mods
> A button called Mark & Quote
> 
> This feature/button will insert in quote form only the highlighted text



Great idea, Kash Kosmo.  I'd second that, Joe.


----------



## It's Snake Pliskin

Julia said:


> Great idea, Kash Kosmo.  I'd second that, Joe.




Isn't this what already happens? Just highlight and click the quote button.


----------



## Kash Kosmo

It's Snake Pliskin said:


> Isn't this what already happens? Just highlight and click the quote button.




Hi SP 
It appears so as the highlighted section above shows 

Now I know 
Thanks KK


----------



## Joe Blow

Just bumping this thread for the benefit of newcomers and those who may not have read it yet. I have been noticing that some members have been quoting from other sources and not enclosing the quoted material in 







> tags. This often makes it very difficult for the reader to distinguish between the quoted material and the non-quoted material.
> 
> If anyone has any questions about how to correctly use the
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tags, please ask them in this thread.
Click to expand...


----------



## Joe Blow

I thought it was worth breathing life back into this thread for the benefit of those who are not familiar with how to use the quote tags. I see enquiries from time to time in various threads from those not familiar with how to use them and felt that it was probably time for a brief tutorial.

The following image demonstrates the correct use of the quote tags while composing your post. For the sake of simplicity this example uses the quote tags in their most basic form. For more information on how to quote from a particular person and refer to a particular post, please scroll back up the page and review my post from January 21, 2009.






When posted, the above image will look like this:



> Be sure to tuck the opening and closing quote tags neatly around the section of text you are quoting. Do not leave even a single space on either side.




Then leave a single line break and respond to whatever you are quoting.



> Another line break and you can contine to quote something else that you would like to respond to.




And on we go with your response to that quote. 


If you have any further questions about the use of the quote tags, please don't hesitate to ask.


----------



## todster

Harleyquin said:


> Testing to see if I can get the tags right.




Yep


----------



## NOR

Joe Blow said:


> Sure, go for your life!




nor here    now can i print here


----------



## Joe Blow

If you're having trouble using the quote tags please ensure that each opening quote tag in your post has a matching closing one.

A while ago I introduced a modification to the forum software that will not allow posts to be submitted if quote tags are not closed correctly.


----------

