That other forums have this function does not mean that it needs to be installed here. Especially given that tech development time and workforce are limited anyway.
At any rate, the key objections to a quote button have always been:
- They create an environment that encourages/facilitates pointless back and forths.
- This also causes conversations to fragment.
- Quoted text creates a huge amount of signal noise from the repetition for anybody reading the thread.
There's a pinned thread explaining why we don't have quote buttons
...But, yeah, I'd really like to have a quote button now that we have a new administration. Having quotes makes conversations much easier to follow and shouldn't be discouraged
Still just awesome like that
I feel like the major argument against the objections is that people still quote posts anyway, so this doesn't discourage them so much as arbitrarily makes it harder for them to do what they were already gonna do anyway. We have arrows, and those are arguably even more disruptive to the flow of conversation, as it forces people to zigzag between posts for context.
Whether there is a quote button or not, people will still refer to specific things in other posts or ignore posts in conversations and other such things. What not having a quote button seeks to do is change human nature.
Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
Closing this as it needs Wiki Talk discussion, if consensus is reached there then it can be asked for in the query wishlist forum.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I know a thread was made somewhere by Fast Eddie explaning why we don't have it, but I can't find the thing to counterargue perfectly.
He's no longer in charge, so can we please have this convenience? Manual quoting is just unnecessary, other forums have the function by default, and I can't fathom why having the would be a bad thing.
If a tree falls in the forest and nobody remembers it, who else will you have ice cream with?