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Gary Lewis
This post was updated on .
Perhaps this is a setting which I cannot find.  Or perhaps this is an issue that's been dealt with and which my search didn't find.  But, my users and I have a problem with the way responses are created.

On Nabble if you hit Reply you get an edit window and you can see only the post to which you are replying.  But frequently we want to reply to several posts, and in order to do that we have to open at least another tab to see what the others say, if not several tabs if we are quoting the other posts and want to copy the quote text.

Is there a setting or a way to change Nabble such that a reply allows you to still see the other posts?
I'm not Nabble support, but have Nabble running on my Weebly website: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/
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Re: Reply Window

GregChapman
Hi Gary,
Gary Lewis wrote
On Nabble if you hit Reply you get an edit window and you can see only the post to which you are replying.  But frequently we want to reply to several posts, and in order to do that we have to open at least another tab to see what the others say, if not several tabs if we are quoting the other posts and want to copy the quote text.

Is there a setting or a way to change Nabble such that a reply allows you to still see the other posts?
There certainly is no setting/option that allows you to see all the posts prior to the one you are replying to below the edit box on the reply screen. I guess you'd need to code that in NAML - and that's beyond me!

Read no further unless you fancy a random selection of personal thoughts related to the issue.

I guess I suffer from the same rule based (and in my case Asperger's influenced) approach to things as the designers of Nabble, but I'd say that if you put replies to a number of posts in a single reply then you completely screw up post threading and, for me, that's an important and useful tool when you have a complex topic that begins to diverge.

With threaded thinking in mind the "correct" approach is to reply once and then go to all the posts to which your post refers and put a link there to where you have replied to them. Only doing things like that - or something similar - will allow those following a particular branch of the topic to be returned easily to the main thread.

Having offered that strict rule-based thought, I do accept that I have been known to reference a number of earlier posts in a topic in a single post, but I have always found it far easier to open those earlier posts in other tabs (with a wheel-click on their subject line) so I can switch between them quickly. I find that far more efficient than having to scroll up and down a list of old posts as I am sometimes permitted to do so in other software.

I guess the need for the feature depends very much on the individual forum, volume of traffic and typical length of posts and whether you are familiar with CTRL-TAB and CTRL-SHIFT-TAB as a way of switching backwards and forwards between tabs in a brower (or fields in a dialogue).
Volunteer Helper - but recommending that users move off the platform!
Once the admin for GregHelp now deleted.
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Re: Reply Window

Gary Lewis
Greg - Thanks.  But I did read the whole thing, and beg to differ with your "personal thoughts".  When we get deep into tech discussions trying to help people with their trucks it isn't at all unusual to reply to several posts in one go - and still stay pretty much on topic.

Also, many of my users use mobile devices and the tiny screens make things very difficult for them - especially if they have to switch tabs.  But scrolling up and down is much less difficult.

Anyway, you've answered the question.  There isn't a setting that would allow seeing multiple posts above/below the one to which you are replying.  And, to make that happen would require NAML coding, and if that's beyond you then it is WAY beyond me.

Thanks.  But I hope those who are coding on the Nabble replacement take this request into consideration.
I'm not Nabble support, but have Nabble running on my Weebly website: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/
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Re: Reply Window

Gary Lewis
In reply to this post by GregChapman
Also, I should have asked if there is an easy way to make the posts numbered.  Or, probably more correctly, display the numbers of the posts.  The guys want to refer back to them by number.

I realize they can insert a link to the post, but that causes the read to have to follow the link.  What they want to do is to say "Please refer to Post #123 for that info".
I'm not Nabble support, but have Nabble running on my Weebly website: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/
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Re: Reply Window

GregChapman
Hi Gary,

Who needs a number when you have a date and time to copy and paste as a reference (and in rare circumstances when there are two messages within a minute, an author. But that idea comes from a guy that thinks pasting in the permalink of the message makes more sense as then you can wheel-click to open it in another tab and switch between them instantly.
Volunteer Helper - but recommending that users move off the platform!
Once the admin for GregHelp now deleted.
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Re: Reply Window

Gary Lewis
Good point, Greg.  I'll tell the guys to use the date/time stamps.  Thanks.  

By the way, your fix on the smileys is working perfectly.  We have another 10 or so smileys in the table in addition to the default ones, and the guys are suggesting others.  I hadn't thought about it before, but smileys are kind of specific to organizations.  We don't use pirate, ninja, drunk, or music so can remove them and add others  It makes it feel more like "ours".
I'm not Nabble support, but have Nabble running on my Weebly website: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/