How to delete unwanted quote text on SSMB without going into plain text mode

[Badnik Mechanic]

Test bitch line.

 

So I noticed something when quoting someone earlier and decided to do a few experiments... you know how following the new upgrade, the quote boxes can sometimes vanish when you try to delete text or images from it?

 

Well... I found a very simple fix that doesn't require you to go into plain text mode. I've tested this on IE 9 and it works, so if it works on there, it should work on everything else...

 

The magic button? This...

 

 

Now... whilst this key isn't on every brand of laptop and mobile devices are probably out of luck, it's still a big help for preventing data loss when quoting.

 

However, there are some things to remember when using this key. I'll explain at the end, for now you'll have to use your imagination and try to follow this as best you can since I'm too tired right now to mess with screenshots.

 

Step 1: Quote this post, yes this post you are reading right now and pay attention to the following line.

 

"The quick blue hog jumped over the lazy echidna"

 

Step 2: Now you only want to quote that one line, so highlight everything below it and press any delete key. Yay! It's all gone but the quote box is still there... Now highlight everything above that line and press any delete key...

 

Awww what happened!? The whole quote box has gone!

 

Either delete everything again and re-quote, or if it'll work, hold CTRL and V to undo your delete.

 

Step 3:  Yay the quote box is back... but so is all the text?

 

Right, so this is how to get rid of it without loosing the quote box.

 

Highlight everything before the line "The quick blue hog jumped over the lazy echidna" except for the first letter in the first line of this post (T).

 

Press any delete key.

 

Step 4: Yay... but now I have a random T at the start? To get rid of this... click to the right of the T and push the backspace button.

 

Thats it.

 

The lesson? You will lose the entire quote box if you try to delete the lot, but if you leave 1 letter/character at the start and remove it via the backspace button. The quote box will remain intact.

 

What doesn't work.

 

1: Highlighting the letter and pushing delete/backspace button.

2: Clicking to the left of the first letter and pressing 'delete'

3: Holding down the backspace button, after you delete the 'first' letter in the quote box, pushing backspace again will remove the whole quotebox. So only push it once.

 

What works but is a pain.

 

1: Going into plain text mode (this works, but for formatting posts with images/video etc becomes an absolute arse).

2: Highlighting the text you don't want and moving it away from the start of the quote box, then deleting it... though this takes time and is... well... a bit of a pain.

 

So yes... The backspace key, that seems to work.

[PC the Hedgehog]

This has been a really irritating problem as of late. Thanks for the thorough explanation on how to avoid it!

[Spin Attaxx]

Is it bad that I found this out on my own ages ago?

[Diogenes]

That sounds like more of a pain than just going into plain text mode.

[Badnik Mechanic]

That sounds like more of a pain than just going into plain text mode.

 

Highlight and delete everything except the first letter in the post.

 

Oh yeah, total pain.

[JezMM]

I too worked this out, but excellent idea for a PSA!

 

 

I still screw it up occasionally and immediately let out a "fuck's sake" because, Firefox at least, does not bring back the quote box if you Ctrl+Z, only the text, unquoted.  So I have to scroll back up and requote the post, bleh.

 

 

Know what would be an even better solution IP Board?  Not greying out the items when in plain text mode and just having them insert the tags.  Like it used to.  As in the coding required is already done.

[Speederino]

My only problem with this method is that sometimes, after you delete that first letter, you're left with a bunch of space between the top of the quote box and the quoted text. Not a big issue, but I really don't see why IP Board went and changed it in the first place. They have only made quoting a bigger pain in the ass and nothing more.

[Da Blu Hedgie]

Test bitch line.

 

So I noticed something when quoting someone earlier and decided to do a few experiments... you know how following the new upgrade, the quote boxes can sometimes vanish when you try to delete text or images from it?

 

Well... I found a very simple fix that doesn't require you to go into plain text mode. I've tested this on IE 9 and it works, so if it works on there, it should work on everything else...

 

The magic button? This...

 

 

Now... whilst this key isn't on every brand of laptop and mobile devices are probably out of luck, it's still a big help for preventing data loss when quoting.

 

However, there are some things to remember when using this key. I'll explain at the end, for now you'll have to use your imagination and try to follow this as best you can since I'm too tired right now to mess with screenshots.

 

Step 1: Quote this post, yes this post you are reading right now and pay attention to the following line.

 

"The quick blue hog jumped over the lazy echidna"

 

Step 2: Now you only want to quote that one line, so highlight everything below it and press any delete key. Yay! It's all gone but the quote box is still there... Now highlight everything above that line and press any delete key...

 

Awww what happened!? The whole quote box has gone!

 

Either delete everything again and re-quote, or if it'll work, hold CTRL and V to undo your delete.

 

Step 3:  Yay the quote box is back... but so is all the text?

 

Right, so this is how to get rid of it without loosing the quote box.

 

Highlight everything before the line "The quick blue hog jumped over the lazy echidna" except for the first letter in the first line of this post (T).

 

Press any delete key.

 

Step 4: Yay... but now I have a random T at the start? To get rid of this... click to the right of the T and push the backspace button.

 

Thats it.

 

The lesson? You will lose the entire quote box if you try to delete the lot, but if you leave 1 letter/character at the start and remove it via the backspace button. The quote box will remain intact.

 

What doesn't work.

 

1: Highlighting the letter and pushing delete/backspace button.

2: Clicking to the left of the first letter and pressing 'delete'

3: Holding down the backspace button, after you delete the 'first' letter in the quote box, pushing backspace again will remove the whole quotebox. So only push it once.

 

What works but is a pain.

 

1: Going into plain text mode (this works, but for formatting posts with images/video etc becomes an absolute arse).

2: Highlighting the text you don't want and moving it away from the start of the quote box, then deleting it... though this takes time and is... well... a bit of a pain.

 

So yes... The backspace key, that seems to work.

Well if this happens to me I'll keep it in mind.

[Your Vest Friend]

Huh, worked this out a while ago.

 

The bigger pain is when you want to quote more than one person and the system insists on putting one quote inside the other despite them being unrelated.