[Pomegranate]

I'm sorry everyone. I'm starting to find this whole conversation here very funny because we are all so confused.

[ECHOES]

I am at a dead end. I can't figure it out.
Now I'm seeing things in the FAQ that I didn't know about (like 'reputation') and can't find either.
I think I'm throwing in the towel and will check back to see if the mystery gets solved.

[FooZe]

Originally Posted by sunrise

It's so strange how the buttons work differently for all of us even if they look the same.

I gather it depends on some setting(s) or other(s), but I suspect I'm still pretty far from finding all the relevant settings and figuring out how they work. I'm finding this site technically quite friendly but also quite complex.

When I click on the "Reply" button it opens up a "reply to thread" window with a large text box where I type my post, add smilies, etc. The text of the person whose post I am replying to is quoted and I can edit it. After I type my post in the text box, I click on "Submit Reply" and my post is appended to the end of the thread, where everyone can read it. It does not go as a private message to the person's mailbox. I do not have a button that does that. For me, the way to send a PM is to click on their name and choose from the dropdown menu that appears.

Those are exactly the same results I get, so I'd guess that a lot of our settings must be the same. However...

There is no need for a quick reply button for me because on my display, there is always a quick reply text box open at the bottom of the page, and you just start typing. No need to click a button.

I remember seeing that, and using it, early on when I was new here. Nowadays, though, that box is grayed for me and contains the message (in some kind of non-selectable text, even!)

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

I do get taken to a reply box when I click one of those buttons, but it's no longer the little dinky three- or four-line "Quick Reply" box. It's the "Reply to Thread" box you just described, with room for about a dozen lines before having to scroll. I do remember at one point switching from the WYSIWYG editor mode to the one that shows all the tags as [TEXT] -- easier for me to work with. That may have been what grayed the "Quick Reply" box for me.

I've explored almost exclusively the options on the thread pages -- hardly at all the settings that get made from my profile. I do recall that when I set up a "signature" for myself, even though I also checked the box for not automatically using it each time, it did keep appearing unless I kept re-checking the "no signature" option box each time I posted. Since I like to make up a different "signature" line for each post, I finally just deleted the signature from my profile (see below).

I'm quite pleased to encounter so much technical talent and technical curiosity here. I'm used to ending up as the Sole Acting Lame Techie at other sites where I've been.

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This is not a real signature.

[FooZe]

Originally Posted by ECHOES

Okay, so I found this in FAQ.

That triangle-style "quick reply" button probably comes with one of the available "skins" here -- what Elysium referred to as "format" in #16. The link for its image has something about "styles/tealblack". I just saw something about a choice of "skins" in the control panel for my profile. I've only ever used the "default" one with the beige background and blue-on-white buttons.

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PurpleLady50 must be getting quite an education if she's reading all this!

[ECHOES]

Oh! Well that makes sense then, because I do use the teal/black skin. Thanks!

[sunrise]

Originally Posted by Fool Zero

I'm used to ending up as the Sole Acting Lame Techie at other sites where I've been.

Sounds like there are a lot of us Lame Techies here. You are not alone!