Why do people quote the post?

[TheBigBadWolf]

I agree!


And I thought it was called "the new rule"... Never really saw it called "rule one". But it is a good rule, no matter what it's called!

Yes, it was phorsenuf's "New Rule". I got a tag from her "rule". I think she lost her's for points.

 

[Sugardimples]

Interesting! I never knew any of this. Didn't know about this "rule".

 

[Melrosgirl]

Why do people feel the need to quote the whole post when replying? Especially when they are the first person to respond?

I just read a thread that was started with a fairly long post. There are 4 replies and each one quoted the entire original post.

Why? I really don't understand!

I never do that, so I don't know why.

 

[indimom]

If I think the issue is going to be a "debate", I will quote the original post before I reply because I'm trying to make it clear that I am not commenting on anyone else's reply.

I would do this even if I was the fourth person in a row to quote it. I just don't want another poster to think I'm commenting on their opinion, but am just answering the original question.
Did that make sense??

Also, I have done multi-quote (which do get very long) when it's a thread I have started because I feel rude commenting on some posts, and not others. Don't know why. I just do. Feels like I'm ignoring people who went to the trouble of answering me, I guess.

I occasionally will trim the posts I am quoting if they are R E A L L Y long.

But, like TVGuy said, sometimes that will come back to bite you because they can claim you are "editing" their post to make them look bad or stupid or whatever.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I can understand the 1st person to reply on a thread quoting the op, but why would the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th poster quote the op?

Because we do not know that others are quoting or like PP said you want to make sure that you are only addressing OP and not another poster. It can get murky.

 

[MELSMICE]

I like the rule because sometimes I come in to a thread late! If the OP has been deleted then I can't really be well informed of the real scoop.

 

[MIGrandma]

Quoting a bunch of pictures, in my opinion, is much more annoying.

I completely agree!

I got one of my tags from "the rule."

 

[LuvOrlando]

Sometimes I just like to note the post number, it's easier on the eyes and assuming everyone can count, it should do the same thing as quotes

 

[SpecialK]

Did you get burned?

In my opinion, the "rule" injects a bit of accountability. You can't go post something ill-considered, rude, or totally off the wall and then pretend it never happened. It's one way to keep this place semi-respectable. You might think twice about what you post if you know you can't make it go away.

You'll notice that it's never used on "Look at my cute new kitty cat" threads. There's a good reason it exists.

It also preserves the entertainment value of someone going totally off the rails.

Nope, never got burned. I just hate the "pile on" aspect of it.

 

[Missy1961]

Sometimes I just like to note the post number, it's easier on the eyes and assuming everyone can count, it should do the same thing as quotes

yeah, but if posts get deleted & renumbered, then that doesn't work.