HOW TO do this and that in BBS

meta
21

:smiley:
I know something new.

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22

The double quote problem is fixed.

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24

Is the second part new? I think I remember being able to click the in-reply-to button to see the full text of the post that is being quoted. It seems like a useful thing to do.

Did you really edit my previous post just to make it have bullet points?

I also see that you switched *shrug* to *shrug* using \*shrug\*, which is something that I did not know how to do.

25

>: )

Wow, the hidden depths continue to impress. This board is a sterling bit of work indeed; the handful of dead or doomed bugs I’ve seen are as nothing next to all the features.

Mad props.

And why isn’t this thread stickied? If you want a better quality of comment posting (who doesn’t?), take steps.

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26

In my experience, the people who need to read help, will not read help. The people who do not need to read help, will read help. So “stickies” just get in the way of folks who don’t need the assistance.

No, it is not new. If you quote a post you have an anchor in the form of the quote to hang the expansion on. If you “reply” to a single post but do not quote it then you need the “in reply to” button at the top to hang the expansion on.

27

I don’t see myself in either of those categories, and I imagine there’s a whole bunch of other folks like me who would regularly make use of at least one or two features they’re not currently aware of… but the board is opaque when it comes to advanced formatting options.

How about a link to a page breaking it all down next to the standard formatting buttons, like is common on BBCode systems, or something?

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28

Oh god yes.

29

Codinghorror was kind enough to share this link on markdown http://superuser.com/editing-help with me a while back.

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30

hey, I just absentmindedly hit N (because it lets me skip to next post on a different forum) and I noticed that it opens up the Notifications Menu. Any other key commands I can use here, @codinghorror @sam?

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31

Try hitting ?

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32

Awesome…thanks!

What’s the difference between “mark topic as tracking” and “mark topic as watching”?

And is “mark topic as muted” the way to stop following a thread?

33

the answers were right below you the whole time!

Screen shot 2014-02-13 at 11.04.53 AM.png808×450 52.4 KB

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34

I swear, I had to re-read several times before I was able to comprehend the difference between tracking and watching.

Thanks!

35

agree. it’s phrased like a line of code (go figure) rather than how folks actually explain stuff

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36

Feel free to suggest alternate wording @chgoliz and @noahdjango!

Be the change you wish to see, etc!

37

I took a stab at it.

I guess what was most confusing to me was, when the menu pops up and we traditionally read from the top down, the first explanation immediately tells us to read the next one. this seemed backwards. explaining each option fully and not in reference to one you haven’t even read yet seemed more like reading and less like doing algebra. meh, to me it’s better.

Watching

you will be notified of every new post within this topic, and the count of unread and new posts will also appear next to the topic’s listing.

Tracking

you will be notified of any replies to your posts and also if your @name is mentioned. the count of all unread and new posts will also appear next to the topic’s listing.

(but I don’t know how you officially refer to what I’m calling a “listing.”)

I kept wanting to refer to “the thread,” too, but I guess you don’t use that word since the whole threaded-vs-flat-comments debate?

do you think it’s better, @chgoliz?

38

Yes…excellent point!

BTW, when I hit “?” I only get the shortcuts menu, not the definitions you originally provided a few posts above. So there’s that.

Here’s how I’d add to your changes:

I think the redundancy makes it clearer, and after all the point of a definitions list is to provide clarity.

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39

well, that’s because ? is the key command to view the listing of keyboard shortcuts. I think you’re confusing two separate threads we’re in. whoops, I’m not remembering this thread properly. however, I was trying to point out that the definitions are available from within a button that is always on the thread, nothing to do with the ? list. if you look at the screencap above, you see the definitions are coming out of a button that, relative to your post at the time, was at the bottom of the comments and above the Suggested Topics box at the very bottom. That button is always there–for me, anyway. if you don’t see it, maybe that’s to do with your browser/mobile view/zoom in view.

anyway, as to the definition: you’re right. I’m guilty of trying to avoid that redundancy in the explanation, but I shouldn’t have. You’re right to include it.

EDIT: strikethrus–sorry! it was both of us confused.

40

Oh, I see. I thought you were somehow pulling up the definitions as part of the shortcuts menu. Yeah, I’ve got that button too…no problems there.

41

the irony is that I was editing that post for clarity right when you responded. but you understood me anyway because you are a smart :smile:

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