The Best Ways to Use the Tag and Quote Functions

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Hey folks! We have a couple of recommendations to make post threads a bit more legible in light of how some folks have been using the tag and the quote features on the forum. We want to clarify how to use these features more effectively to make everyone’s user experience enjoyable, including those with slower internet speeds or less availability, or those who visit from a device instead of a desktop.

Tagging

Tagging is a handy feature that lets you get the attention of someone who has been in the conversation but hasn’t responded in a while, someone you’d like to ask a specific question or clarification of, or someone you believe could help with a question who hasn’t chimed in yet. To tag someone in a conversation, type the “@” symbol and begin typing the person’s screen name without a space. (eg. @Cal, not @ Cal.) A dropdown menu will appear, and you can select the correct forum member’s screen name from that. If done correctly, the member’s screen name will appear highlighted in green. The tagged forum member will receive a notification when they return to the forum that they have been tagged in a post, and will then hopefully go check it out.

Quoting

Another handy feature that we have is the ability to quote another person’s comment in a thread. This can be done by clicking on the quote button at the bottom of the desired comment. The entire comment will appear in your reply box, and you can then add what you like to your new post. It’s useful in order to respond to specific things within a comment, or to refer back to a comment that was made earlier in a longer thread. It’s important to remember though, that quoting an entire comment duplicates a lot of information, and can use a lot of visual real estate on the page. This presents issues for people with slow internet speeds, members who read threads from devices instead of desktops, and means a lot of scrolling for those following along.  If you’re going to use this feature, it’s helpful to delete the parts of the quote that aren’t germane if it’s from a longer comment, or if it contains images you don’t need. You can also highlight part of the comment as if to cut and paste, and an option to quote only a small part of it will appear. Click on the small box that appears, and your chosen snippet will appear in your reply box. The quoted member will also receive a notification that they’ve been quoted in a thread but by itself quoting is not the most efficient way of simply getting someone’s attention. 

[oldlady]

thank you, callie.

[Chilly]

Thanks @Callie Beller Diesel  I didn't know about selecting a small portion and the pop-up box.  That will save a lot of selecting and deleting the unwanted bits.