"deleting pointless full quote of last post" Options

[_m²_]

I'm really annoyed by this. One moderator loves to pointlessly delete quotes from user posts. Please stop. It makes no sense. It doesn't help anybody and actually hurts.
Quoting previous posts is a clear reference to which post I am replying to. And when somebody doesn't read whole topic but only skims through it, it allows to go only forward w/out backsearches "what did he mean"

[db1989]

I edit simply to attempt to increase the readability of topics. Allow me to explain my (good?) intentions in more detail than anyone probably wanted:

(1) I remove full quotations of posts that are directly above the one in question, often because the user has clicked edit: quote reply and not removed the automatically inserted quotation (if I were king, I think I would disable that feature and leave it confined to the multi-quote button actually, no; it is useful but no less of a potential nuisance for that!). In this case, quoting the preceding post in its entirety not only is redundant but also wastes screen space and increases the amount of distance that the reader must scroll in order to navigate through the thread. The user would not have to search backwards in the topic, unless you mean scrolling up a couple of centimetres to read the above post. If the preceding post is quite complex and thus would benefit from a quote, I may attempt to truncate the full-quote to what I think and hope is the relevant portion, as quite rightly suggested by hlloyge.

(2) When a user quotes the whole of a post that is further back, I occasionally try to slim it down if it is large, contains inline images, etc. In this case, the reader can still use the snap-back arrow to locate the original post. But I usually just leave the quote in because, as you said, _m²_, it can be beneficial to the reader, in contrast to full-quoting the above post and thereby somewhat assuming a lack of intelligence and/or extreme laziness on their part.

I can easily believe that I get this wrong, and I apologise to any users who think their quotations have been removed inappropriately; please PM me to explain and have the post reverted if so.

However, I see little justification for quoting the post above your own in its entirety, as I am sure the reader can make the connection in most cases. It does not take much time or energy to consider whether an automatically generated quotation is necessary and to remove it if not, but it does considerably improve readibility when you do.

This post has been edited by db1989: Oct 28 2011, 14:12

[_m²_]

From a writer's perspective, I prefer quoting to inline reply whenever I'm writing something that's going to take more than a few seconds simply because at the time I post my reply, there might already be another post. It happened to me many times, editing to insert a quote is unwanted and burden and often my post is not well understandable when sb. posts before me.

Going 1 post up costs 2 page reloads when it happens on a page break and even when it doesn't, I have less scrolling. Efficiency is important when going through long threads.
I acknowledge that quoting previous posts increases scrolling and that it's bad. Personally I don't notice it though unless it's something really big, I totally agree that with big images and / or lots of text moderation is useful. But I have an impression that you're removing even the slightest amounts of quoted text and edition notifications take space too - does it really save anything in such cases? And they are worse, because unlike quotations - they are not usual parts of posts, so they unnecessarily grab my attention. I didn't think it through before, but I guess that's the thing that annoys me the most, I waste time repeatedly reading that a moderator corrected some minor stylistic issue. It takes much more time than little scrolling.

This post has been edited by _m²_: Oct 28 2011, 14:18

[db1989]

Ooh, I quite like that thread! There are some worthwhile questions raised there, so I’d be interested in the opinions of members on those as well as the issues already mentioned here.

at the time I post my reply, there might already be another post. [. . .] often my post is not well understandable when sb. posts before me.

Going 1 post up costs 2 page reloads when it happens on a page break

I acknowledge the chance that a post may be put out of context if a reply and/or page-break occur between your beginning and submitting your reply, but I think this rather small risk is worth taking rather than filling the thread with quotes just-in-case.

edition notifications take space too - does it really save anything in such cases? And they are worse, because unlike quotations - they are not usual parts of posts, so they unnecessarily grab my attention. I didn't think it through before, but I guess that's the thing that annoys me the most, I waste time repeatedly reading that a moderator corrected some minor stylistic issue. It takes much more time than little scrolling.

You have a point, and I have wondered about this. However, it would be very impolite to edit a post by another user without providing a reason, and the notification is fairly small; I suppose the background colour is the main distraction, but that comes as part of the IPB theme.

FWIW, another forum I visit is full of giant quotes and pyramids, so that shows me what might be and perhaps factors into my enthusiasm! It recently upgraded to a newer version of IPB, which included restrictions on nested quotes and the number of quotes per post; however, I think these were too strict and ended up being relaxed or removed altogether. Certainly, a sensible degree of something like that, as suggested by Sebastian Mares in the other thread, may be worthy of consideration. Also suggested there was the creation of a policy on quoting. Again, it would be interesting to read what other users think about topics such as these.

Overall, moderators want not to be continually editing posts by others or to seem at all officious, but to keep the forum tidy for everyone’s sake! Of course, there must be a balance between rules and common sense, but it isn’t much to ask that users put in a trifling effort to help. I acknowledge that there are various complicating factors on both sides, but I hope there’s a good balance to be found.