What is quoting?

Quoting means including original text from the news article you are answering to in your own article. Lines with quoted text are normally marked with a special character at the beginning of the line, preferably >.

How do you quote?

Most newsreaders automatically quote the entire text when you post a follow-up to an article.

What are the most common mistakes?

Placing your own text before the quoted text.
You should always put your own text below the text you are commenting; this makes it a lot easier for others to see the contextual meaning of your text.
Quoting too much.
You should only include the parts of the original text that are needed to give your answers meaning - remember that the readers already have read the article you are quoting. Rule of thumb: at least half of your article should be your own text. Quoting quoted text should only be done when necessary to preserve context.
Quoting signatures.
No need to do that.
Conserving space.
Insert an empty line between the text you are quoting and your own text. An easy way to enhance legibility.
Not telling whom you are quoting.
Most newsreaders automatically add a line at the beginning of your article, telling who wrote the article you are quoting - leave it there! If you are using a newsreader that doesn't include this - do it yourself!

Why spend time and energy on correct quoting?

  1. Your article becomes much easier to read.
  2. It decreases the possibility of people concentrating on how you say things, instead of what you mean to say.
  3. You are saving bandwidth.
  4. There is no need to tell the world you are a newbie!

This document has been written by:

Thanks to other netizens who have contributed.

The latest version of this document can always be found here:
http://home.online.no/~vidaandr/news/FAQquoting.txt
http://home.online.no/~vidaandr/news/FAQquoting.html

This document may be freely distributed provided distributed in its whole, this paragraph included. Permission needed for commercial use.