As one of the very few improvements to the message boards on the move from the old h2 howerd system to the newer dna (h2g2) system, there used to be a quote button for referencing previous posts. That was invaluable in the absence of any visible threading. Far too many people were rubbish at using it or even deliberately abused it though. So it was taken away across the MBs (after a link back to the previous post was grudgingly added beneath each post).

However, the underlying quote functionality still exists and can be used to good effect. Unfortunately, people still mess up if they are not careful to use the quote tags absolutely correctly and don't use the Preview button to check their post. You need an opening tag and a closing tag placed around the text you want to quote. You must use HTML angle brackets rather than Bulletin Board square brackets. You must use lower case for the tags.

NB Rather than quote entire posts, try to quote only the relevant portion - enough to identify the post and the particular point you are addressing. Don't misquote people - either by adjusting the text (use copy and paste to avoid inadvertent errors) or by selecting parts which will misrepresent the whole. That's not polite.

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Simple Version

Advanced Version

This version is useful for quoting multiple people from multiple posts because it identifies the person being quoted (although all the links still go back to the post whose reply button is used).

In about the only nod to the more serious nature of science, the host of the newly combined Science & Nature Message Board decided not to turn on the image-conversion feature for smileys initially. There was then a consultation process with the original users of the board and the non-smiley contingent slightly out-voted the smiley-fans. So the graphical smileys remained turned off. However, any attempts to use them in posts do still get stored. So if the decision were ever to be reversed, the smileys would all suddenly appear.

Meanwhile, way back in the dim and distant past of the early eighties, before many of you were even born let alone had public internet access, those of us on the original internet (ie a few universities and the military) were inventing the original text-based images. Of the two main contemporary strands, the US version "won" in the sense of turning into what most of you now think of as smileys or emoticons; but the UK version, having a greater variety of image type, possibly has more relevance to mbsn. Although the HTML-based proportional fonts of the MBs here are not as good for drawing with text as the old teletype style, some drawings are still possible.

In a recent twist to the plot (and apparently a result of the single forum being under new management) the smileys have been turned on.

Conversation threads
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