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Lack of quote attribution

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nate45

New member
Lately, more and more it seems that quotes are going unattributed. This makes posts and even whole threads hard to follow. For instance some one will quote one line, from 3 or 4 different people, often times from different pages as well. Having a link to those quotes is too much to ask I suppose; Even though that would only require the addition of a semi colon and post number. However, at least adding the members name would go along way toward making things more readable.

Now, I do not have an idea of how to persuade members to properly attribute quotes. Seeing as how most stickies go unread by the majority. I'm just a little dismayed by the ever growing trend of leaving quotes unattributed. Does anyone have any ideas on how this might be addressed?

PS: inb4 someone quotes me and leaves it unattributed. :p
 
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Jimmy10mm

New member
How about the devs modifying the softwear so that we have a "reply with quote" button option ? I see this feature on Straight Razor Place forums as well as others that I participate in.
 
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nate45

New member
According to Mike Irwin in the thread quotes...

Mike Irwin said:
"A quote feature should be added to the forum, so that all that copy and paste stuff can be avoided."

No.

At one time APS did have a quote feature.

It was badly abused.

People would quote lengthy messages just to comment on a small section or, worse, just to add +1, attaboy, you bet, or some other such equally inane comment.

Then that post would get quoted for an equally worthless add, it would be quoted again and again, and soon you'd have a mass attack of the Quotards, particularly silly and mindless posters who, in their desire to get in on the action, hit the quote button to everyone's detriment.

It quickly got out of hand.

Having a somewhat convoluted quoting process forces posters to actually THINK about what they're quoting.

You see how I handled it at the top of my message? Two quote marks a little C&P, and I'm good to go.
__________________
Click to expand...

... and I tend to agree with him. People will then abuse the quote feature. I see it done on other forums all too often. We need something though, because it really does make threads hard to follow.
 
B

Brian Pfleuger

Moderator Emeritus
Nate45 said:
We need something though, because it really does make threads hard to follow.
Click to expand...


We have something.... just like you attributed the quote to Mike Irwin and I, to you.

Laziness is the reason that people quote without reference. No tool will stop it.

I agree with the what Mike said and I think the current system works just fine. The only people who REALLY need to know who is responsible for the quoted text are the original writer and the quoter. It doesn't really matter to everyone else exactly who said it, at least the vast majority of the time.
 
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Evan Thomas

New member
peetzakilla said:
I agree with the what Mike said and I think the current system works just fine. The only people who REALLY need to know who is responsible for the quoted text are the original writer and the quoter. It doesn't really matter to everyone else exactly who said it, at least the vast majority of the time.
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Yes, I'd rather have the current system than one in which everyone hits a "just-quote-everything" button... that's a hideous waste of bandwidth.

But I agree with Nate45 about attribution, especially in the absence of that button: people often quote one or two sentences from a longer post, and one sometimes would like to know the context. Attribution makes the quoted post easier to find. I noticed an even nicer touch this morning: Fiddletown, in commenting on something I'd said in an earlier post, did this:

fiddletown said:
Originally Posted by Vanya, post 95
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Click to expand...

That's very helpful if someone wants to read the quoted post in its entirety, especially in a thread with many pages.

And as Nate45 pointed out, for the attributionally obsessed, it's also possible to link to the quoted post:
fiddletown said:
Originally Posted by Vanya, post 95
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Click to expand...

For detailed instructions on how to do this and all sorts of other fun attribution-y things, see this post by Antipitas, in the "How do I quote from a post?" sticky, at the top of this forum...

:)
 
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A

Al Norris

Moderator Emeritus
Call it laziness, indolence, apathy or slothfulness. It's all pretty much the same thing as regards the activity of posting.

The syndrome we are seeing goes much deeper than folks not wanting to take the time and effort to learn how to properly quote. You could simply do it the old fashioned way, like Mike Irwin does, by actually using quotation marks. Even that is too much effort for many. ...sigh...

When we appear to live in a throw-away society, and one where everyone wants what they want and they want it now .... handed to them on a silver platter, no less! What can we expect?

Nate? I feel your pain. I really do.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
'Even that is too much effort for many. ...sigh...'

It's too much effort to hit the shift key to bring up the double quotes... Single quotes from now on.
 
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stargazer65

New member
Since policing posts is everybody's job, you could simply give everyone the authority and ability to edit any post. People could edit for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and proper attribution. Everyone would become more responsible members of the forum, and take great pride in its presentation.
 
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Jimmy10mm

New member
People would quote lengthy messages just to comment on a small section or, worse, just to add +1, attaboy, you bet, or some other such equally inane comment.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with that. It does make sense to require the extra effort. I myself had to figure out the brackets and Quote deal when I first came around here. I haven't figured out how to attribute the quote to the OP yet but hard to teach old lazy dogs new tricks. :p
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
"Since policing posts is everybody's job, you could simply give everyone the authority and ability to edit any post. People could edit for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and proper attribution. Everyone would become more responsible members of the forum, and take great pride in it's presentation."

Yeah. We'll get right on that.

Oh, and in your last sentence? 'It's' should not have an apostrophe in that sentence.

:p
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
It's a colloquial use, probably as close to a hypothetical question as anything.

Most often it's done in speaking, where the question is understood by voice intonation, with the answer coming immediately after.
 
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ScottRiqui

New member
It's a colloquial use, probably as close to a hypothetical question as anything.

Most often it's done in speaking, where the question is understood by voice intonation, with the answer coming immediately after.
Click to expand...

Yep - it's like when you end a story with "And that young boy from the ghetto? He's now the CEO of a multinational corporation."
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
Thinking about it some more, I think its real purpose is that it narrowly focuses the subject's attention on one particular thing.


"Yep - it's like when you end a story with "And that young boy from the ghetto? He's now the CEO of a multinational corporation."


thank you Paul Harvey. :D
 
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stargazer65

New member
Originally Posted by Mike Irwin:
Oh, and in your last sentence? 'It's' should not have an apostrophe in that sentence.
Click to expand...

There fixed it. What are you, the post police?

Originally Posted by Mike Irwin:
Most often it's done in speaking, where the question is understood by voice intonation, with the answer coming immediately after.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't use prepositions to end a sentence with. It ain't proper.:D
 
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ScottRiqui

New member
thank you Paul Harvey
Click to expand...


THANK YOU!!! When I was typing it, I knew it sounded like a radio personality I'd heard before, but I had no idea who or how to find out. That would have bugged me for a while.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
"You shouldn't use prepositions to end a sentence with. It ain't proper."

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put.


And THAT little boy grew up to be Adolf Hitler... And now you know the rest of the story.
 
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Mal H

Staff
What?!

That particular little boy grew up to encourage his nation to endure and help defeat Adolf Hitler.


[Edit]
Oh wait! Was that an example of a quote attribution failure?
 
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