Tip: minimize quoting

[bradl]

Tip: use instead of

There is rarely a need to quote an entire message that is usually still there on the page. Quoting often adds no new information and swells the size of the database, hastening the day when old posts will have to be deleted to make room for new.

By all means, quote when appropriate:

• the part of the post you are responding to is several pages away
  
• you need to establish context for your remarks
  
• you are responding to one particular part of a longer post and want to indicate which part (be sure to edit and delete the irrelevant part of the quoted post)
  

Expert tip: If you aren't going to be using formatting or smilies, post in seconds using the button. Fast Reply opens a plain text box instantly, right on the view-topic page (scroll down if you don't see it). Brave users: you can still format and use smilies in the Fast Reply box by typing the BBCODE yourself. To learn about BBCODE, click the BB Code Help link on the posting page (below the smilies).