How to nest all comments posted in each thread.

reply to post by Caterminator


D'oh. You'd think I was a nooB!!

OK, so I can't find the answer here, I searched so I'm sorry if it's already covered somewhere. The new search function is bugging me, I don't like it as much as the previous copy. My question: How does one NEST THE COMMENTS in each topic thread?? All comments get listed in order of time when they were posted. I don't know how to follow all replies to specific comments. Thanks for patience and a good answer will be appreciated.

Also. How do I properly quote someone else's comment or a portion thereof? I've been on ATS since the beginning, at least as a lurker, but I never developed the knack for how to do this! Is there a page or other HELP function where these technical things are covered? Thanks.

reply to post by Caterminator

I don't think there's an option to "nest" in the way you're describing.
The standard is in the order of time posted, as you say.

As for quoting; if you click the "quote" button on the top right of the other user's post, instead of the "reply" button, you get the whole of the other person's post in your editing box.

Staff would then prefer you to delete most of that, leaving only the specific point you're answering.
Best to leave undeleted the "originally posted by JohnSmith", so that people can see who you're answering.


But in deleting, make sure you leave in the "quote" commands. You will see an opening "quote", and a closing "/quote", both within square brackets. If you accidentally delete any portion of either of those (or even one of the brackets), the result looks odd. E.g if the closing "/quote" is not complete, what follows will appear on-screen as part of the quote.

With care, you can break up the other person's post and type a reply under each portion.
The procedure would be; type in a new closing "/quote" at the end of the first portion. Type in your comment.
THEN type in a fresh opening "quote" before the next portion you're answering.
Repeat as necessary.
If the result looks odd on screen , it may because a "quote" has been missed somewhere. They need to be in pairs.

Originally posted by DISRAELI

Staff would then prefer you to delete most of that, leaving only the specific point you're answering.

Just to demonstrate- carefully calibrated deleting leads to this result.

reply to post by DISRAELI

Just to demonstrate- carefully calibrated deleting leads to this result.

I prefer this way. Highlight the text you want to respond to, click 'reply to' then the quote button, paste and you are good to go.

Helps to get rid of long nests.

P

This has been asked before (at least the "nest" portion). The thread I replied in (pardon the lack of a link) I didn't quite understand what was being asked. It was explained to me as such... for those that remember Microsoft Agent the newsgroup reader, if a person posted a comment and one replied to the comment a RE: would populate under and slightly to the right of the main comment and so on and so forth making it easy to read specific replies to a specific comment.

If you're referring to the same...then it was determined there is no conventional way to do it...unfortunately. Although I agree it would be a convenient feature.

reply to post by DISRAELI


Wow, thank you! And, thanks for not chastising me for not knowing how to dothis. I've been using the web since 1994 and know my way around, but some things still remain a mystery. And, my kids get tired of answering my dumb questions, and my ego can't take the eye rolling and huffing.

Is there any way to ask ATS folks for a nesting option to be made? How would I request this and to whom? I can't be the only one out ther who has wanted this function. In other message boards I frequent, several nesting options are available, inline, flat, nesting,...etc. Why not here? Too fussy and glitchy? Too costly?

reply to post by UberL33t


Thank you, and YES, that is EXACTLY what I was trying to get across. Just why is it so difficult to do here? Surely the tech can't be that tricky or difficult?

reply to post by pheonix358


Thanks! Mystery soved. I should have figured this out years ago, but no. I just had to think it was too tricky for me to get.

Originally posted by Caterminator
reply to post by UberL33t

 

Thank you, and YES, that is EXACTLY what I was trying to get across. Just why is it so difficult to do here? Surely the tech can't be that tricky or difficult?

Yeah...I envision a link next to the "Quote" and "Reply-To" above a post that would populate if one were to reply to a given post that reads: "Read Replies" wherein when one clicks it would populate all the replies to said post chronologically... maybe in a new window and even in a condensed text version.

Each post in the condensed version could have a link that reads: "Take me to post" ...this would link one back to the post in the thread should one want to reply to a given post amongst the posts in the replies.

reply to post by UberL33t


You know, now that I think of it I remember loading two apps to my computer this year. Both were free, made by tech savvy people and were useful. One was a patch, or whatever you call it allowing the user (me) to hide from view youtube comments that were obnoxious. I don't remember what the other one was. I got them off a site titled "greasemonkey" or some such. There has to be some downloadable app like this that will work here. Know where I can look?

reply to post by Caterminator


Not sure in regards to nesting. You can however see replies that have been made to your own posts within a thread. In your U2Us...the link that says "Replies"...shows you any replies another member makes to your posts in a thread.

However to do this for others is still not available. Not sure if that helps but nonetheless.

reply to post by UberL33t


U2U's are the same as messages and can be found by clicking 'show the ribbon' on the bottom of each page? Yes? The same?

reply to post by Caterminator


Yes...that...or by clicking "Tools" in the links at the top of the page then "messages" in the sub-menu...takes you to the same place.

If you see something in someone's post that looks really cool and you don't know how it is done you can click on "quote" on that person's post and it will come up for you with all the code instructions that make it come out that way when posted. Then you might want to hit the back arrow to get out of that mode, OR, try adding some effect you wanted to do and hit the "preview" button to see what it looks like or if you did it correctly or not. Then you might want to back out of that mode or close the window if you were just experimenting and don't actually want to post.

ATS post editor has a lot of automatic functions but I find most of them to work rather strangely compared to more straight-forward boards. This compels you to do all the BB coding manually and actually can give you more options. ATS is a good place to become more skilled online for that reason. Also search or Wiki "BB codes" to learn more functions, though not all of them work on all boards.

A couple weeks ago I stared posting on a Latin America expat site I had never visited before. I posted things there using BB commands I had become adept at using here. The site owners were impressed by the appearance of my posts and so by the fourth day were messaging me to invite me onto their Moderators team. These are good skills to learn.