Sure, it makes sense but unless I’m missing something it doesn’t seem to work (could it be the browser I’m using?) I always use the white reply button by each post and my reply still shows up only at the end of the thread. Also the discussions always show up like this for me, i.e. with each new reply someone makes just at the end of the entire thread (again, could it be a display problem with my computer or browser)?
For this reply, as usual I hit the white reply button but it’s not a good test as my reply will be under yours anyway since yours is the last post in this thread. I’ll doublecheck in another discussion where I’ve replied to make sure I’m not crazy!
Also, re:
by highlighting the relevant phrase in their post, as I have done here.
when I highlight a phrase in someone’s reply, as I just did, it usually does not show up with their name above it like yours above does. Not sure what I’m doing incorrectly here either…
Okay, so we’re getting off topic so I’ve started a new thread. Let’s see if we can solve these problems!
So now at the top of this thread we can see that your post was a reply to me. There’s my smiling face at the top! So that’s good.
According to my understanding, when you reply to an individual like this, the post appears right underneath if it is the next to be posted. If there are other intervening posts, what happens is that the post appears twice: once at the end of the thread, and once, in compressed form, under the post you replied to. So you can read that specific post and all replies to that in one spot, or read the thread in sequence: up to you.
This is a pretty fundamental behavior in Discourse, and I would be surprised if it didn’t work, unless you are using a very old browser. You’re not, are you? Or any add-ons that might affect it? Javascript disabler, that sort of thing?
So what I just did: I highlighted the relevant terms. A popup appeared, saying ” quote reply. I clicked that, and your quote appeared in my reply, together with a snippet of code that looks like this:
[quote="Linda, post:1, topic:3571"]
That’s what make the fancy-schmancy name-y thing appear.
I’m using Safari 10.0.1 and nothing to affect it that I know of (though don’t know how to check that).
I cannot see any compressed replies in any threads. I’ve checked back in other disucssions as well–always just one of any reply and seemingly at the end (though hard to tell now, but they’re all in chronological order by time stamp, even if it looks like someone is responding to a specific post). Maybe I’m somehow missing something!
OK, I see what I was doing which resulted in the person’s name not coming up on top of the quote. I was simply copying the quote and pasting into the reply box & using the quote button there instead of clicking on the pop-up as I never noticed one coming up (things seem to take a long time on my computer–don’t knwo if that’s my computer or super slow internet connection). But this time I waited and watched for it and presto…thanks–ah, the little things that lessen my frustrations with my technical ignorance!
P.S. Just posted this, using as usual the white reply button next to your post, and now I wonder why I don’t see your name on the top right (with your smiling face). Maybe becasue there are no intervening posts? But really these things don’t matter, I can live with however it’s working; at least I manage to post (I realize I’m way behind the curve in terms of knowing the basics)!
I’m looking at one, right above your reply. On the left hand side of the topic, immediately above your user name, in light grey it says 1 reply ⮟. Click that, and it will expand to reveal your reply. If there have been many replies to that post, all of them will be collected there.
I’m not quite sure about that, it seems counterintuitive, but I guess you’re right, if there are no intervening posts it is omitted.
Don’t worry, it’s worth while to spend a little time to learn how to use the platform well. Discourse is well designed, but nothing is perfect!
Thanks again. I swear I looked everywhere for ways to expand to find replies under a post but I just did manage to do it this time hitting the ‘1 reply’ above my earlier post. Have I been blind all this time or did it magically start working Oh well, you know what they say about ignorance…
another P.S. now I see , upon first posting this reply, that @Sujato doesn’t show up in the post even though it shows up in the top of the reply box when I’m typing. You know, I have to tell you my body seems to interact in weird ways with electrical stuff (or even some battery powered). For eample, it was a standing joke in my family growing up that I “stopped clocks”– watches stopped if I tried to wear them or even carry one in a pocket or purse but as soon as I gave them to someone else, they worked fine. There were also problems with electrical clocks around me. No kidding, that went on from childhood on through adult years until I gave up trying to use them. Must be the same with computers (I could give lots of examples of computer problems I’ve had that reolve as soon as I get up and my husband sits down at it, the problem is gone, I mean before he even touches anything ) Go figure, I must be wired strangely
Or did I add it then just to mess with you? How will we ever really know?
Here’s an IT secret: the difference between experts and non-experts is not that this sort of thing doesn’t happen to experts. It’s that it happens so often that they expect it and take it as a normal part of the process. Non-experts think there’s something wrong with them, something they just don’t get because they’re not part of the inner circle. But the reality is, these things are just complicated, and all we do is stumble around until we figure stuff out.
Oh well, you know what they say about ignorance…
