Comments that quote the entire article

[CarlJ]

I see this happen a lot in the comments section. And occasionally I see these show up in the comments under articles on the front page. One of those times is right now, under the article: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/05/27/ios-16-wishlist/

Right now, there's a comment on that article that quotes the entire text of the article (including images), in order to add a single sentence. On the page for the article (the one linked off the front page, as opposed to the associated forum comments page), that comment takes up perhaps 80% of the total vertical space used by all the comments shown below the article. To repeat a complete copy of the story.

I understand why people get to this point (mistaking the "Reply" button on the story itself for a way to post a comment). I use that Reply button myself (when I want to quote a sentence or a paragraph from the story). But having the entire story needlessly quoted in, makes the rest of the comments harder to read.

It's not a big thing, but it is annoying.

When it happens, it always follows the same pattern: the entire text of the article, quoted as a reply, followed by the user's comment.

Would it be possible to add in some sort of hook to the "Post reply" button, so that it checks to see if the incoming text starts with an exact (quoted) copy of the story text, and, if so, either blocks the ability to submit the post until the text is removed, or just removes the quoted text itself?

It wouldn't/shouldn't block any/every reply made to the story body (that is, comments that quote part of comment #1 - people often quote a sentence or two when they legit meant to reply to the story text itself), just ones that quote the entirety of comment #1.

It's a small thing, but I think it would improve the site.

 

[annk]

I agree that it's irritating and unnecessary. I can't answer as to your proposed solution, but if you shoot us a report when you see this, it's an easy matter for us to edit out the quote while leaving the user's own comment intact.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I agree with the spirit of this.

It's a tough thing to deal with.
When an entire article or something is quoted, it's rather cut and dry.

For me, the same issue can be relevant with quoting of a very long user comment.

I tend to quote just the parts (and any needed surrounding context) of a post that I'm replying to, so that it's clear what I'm saying and in response to who/what..

..that said, some people get really bent out of shape if you don't quote them in their entirety.

As long as I'm operating in good faith and not selectively quoting folks in a way that could be misinterpreted, I personally feel fine quoting just selections.

I think the forum is honestly better that way, as people passing by can much more easily get a sense of what you are saying, to whom and why.

 

[CarlJ]

It's a tough thing to deal with.
When an entire article or something is quoted, it's rather cut and dry.

For me, the same issue can be relevant with quoting of a very long user comment.

Yeah, the only case I'd see as being worth trying to handle is the entire body of the article (post #1) being quoted verbatim, on threads attached to articles that appeared on the front page. That's a case where a quote of the entire thing is quite clearly someone who clicked the wrong button (the "Reply" button at the end of the article) - it's the most egregious case and the most straightforward to fix (assuming they could hook something into the "Post reply" button that can modify the text of the comment - compare the incoming text to "{quote line} body of post #1 {/quote}", and if that's what the incoming post starts with, then chop that part off).

Any editing beyond that is too hard for a computer to figure out the human's intent. Personally, I come from old-school Usenet, where everything was text, and it was possible but a little complicated to scroll up the conversation (many people were reading Usenet News with different reader programs), so you were expected to quote the sentence (or part of a paragraph, or whatever) you were replying to, to make it clear for someone who hadn't read the whole thread. Quoting an entire post was considered poor form (like you didn't care, or weren't skillful enough, to edit it down to just the part you were replying to). Worked for decades for email, too (now everything is top-posted and the reader app hides the quoted text).

So, yeah. Just the text of the main article, if it's quoted verbatim. Leave all the other posts alone. The main question is, do they have a hook in the "Post reply" button, or nearby logic, to tie into.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Even more annoying is when someone quotes the entire article, then adds no other content to the post.
So essentially it's a blank post. I try to report these when I see them.

 

[annk]

...

I tend to quote just the parts (and any needed surrounding context) of a post that I'm replying to, so that it's clear what I'm saying and in response to who/what..

..that said, some people get really bent out of shape if you don't quote them in their entirety.

As long as I'm operating in good faith and not selectively quoting folks in a way that could be misinterpreted, I personally feel fine quoting just selections.

...

I often insert ... where I cut something out of the post I'm quoting/responding to (like I did above), at least if I think there might be any ambiguity. That way, I alert readers that the user I'm quoting said more than I show, and they can go to the quoted post if they want to see the entire text.

It's also a way to show respect to the post author. It shows that I'm not trying to be sneaky by leaving out parts of the quote.

I don't necessarily do this in cases where I feel I won't create a misunderstanding by only quoting the part I'm responding to. But it really depends on the conversation. If anyone were ever to complain to me about how I quoted a post, I would certainly take a second look to see if I could edit it to make it clearer.

Even more annoying is when someone quotes the entire article, then adds no other content to the post.
So essentially it's a blank post. I try to report these when I see them.

Yeah, those have to do. Appreciate the reports! Sometimes it's just an error on the part of the user.

 

[jav6454]

Can't the forum software make an exception for the MR Bot stories? For example, the MR Bot can't be quoted. I feel that option should exist. That would limit people quoting the entire article and force them to just insert via copy/paste the debated topics.

 

[CarlJ]

Can't the forum software make an exception for the MR Bot stories? For example, the MR Bot can't be quoted. I feel that option should exist. That would limit people quoting the entire article and force them to just insert via copy/paste the debated topics.

That would be troublesome. I often intentionally click the "Reply" button on the story (post #1), and then edit it down to the paragraph or sentence that I wish to quote. Blocking it would mean either basically making that button be there but non-functional, which would be weird, or removing the button entirely, which would leave people wondering how to intentionally reply to the main article.

Hmm... I suppose... the latter might be a cheap fix for this problem. One could still copy/paste, though it would be inelegant. Oh, but if the "+Quote" button was still there (only remove post #1's "Reply" button), then those who knew how to use the forum software could fairly easily click "+Quote", then go down to the bottom and click "Insert quotes". That could be a workable and possibly fairly cheap solution. Thanks!

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

I see this happen a lot in the comments section. And occasionally I see these show up in the comments under articles on the front page. One of those times is right now, under the article: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/05/27/ios-16-wishlist/

Right now, there's a comment on that article that quotes the entire text of the article (including images), in order to add a single sentence. On the page for the article (the one linked off the front page, as opposed to the associated forum comments page), that comment takes up perhaps 80% of the total vertical space used by all the comments shown below the article. To repeat a complete copy of the story.

I understand why people get to this point (mistaking the "Reply" button on the story itself for a way to post a comment). I use that Reply button myself (when I want to quote a sentence or a paragraph from the story). But having the entire story needlessly quoted in, makes the rest of the comments harder to read.

It's not a big thing, but it is annoying.

When it happens, it always follows the same pattern: the entire text of the article, quoted as a reply, followed by the user's comment.

Would it be possible to add in some sort of hook to the "Post reply" button, so that it checks to see if the incoming text starts with an exact (quoted) copy of the story text, and, if so, either blocks the ability to submit the post until the text is removed, or just removes the quoted text itself?

It wouldn't/shouldn't block any/every reply made to the story body (that is, comments that quote part of comment #1 - people often quote a sentence or two when they legit meant to reply to the story text itself), just ones that quote the entirety of comment #1.

It's a small thing, but I think it would improve the site.

I agree.

Would it be possible to add in some sort of hook to the "Post reply" button, so that it checks to see if the incoming text starts with an exact (quoted) copy of the story text, and, if so, either blocks the ability to submit the post until the text is removed, or just removes the quoted text itself?

This is a good solution.

 

[jav6454]

That would be troublesome. I often intentionally click the "Reply" button on the story (post #1), and then edit it down to the paragraph or sentence that I wish to quote. Blocking it would mean either basically making that button be there but non-functional, which would be weird, or removing the button entirely, which would leave people wondering how to intentionally reply to the main article.

Hmm... I suppose... the latter might be a cheap fix for this problem. One could still copy/paste, though it would be inelegant. Oh, but if the "+Quote" button was still there (only remove post #1's "Reply" button), then those who knew how to use the forum software could fairly easily click "+Quote", then go down to the bottom and click "Insert quotes". That could be a workable and possibly fairly cheap solution. Thanks!

The reply could be programmed to just make you reply without quoting.