I think people have gotten too much in the habit of doing the quote thing when replying to a message on here. You read through someone's page long message, and then right below it you have the same page long message written in bold, just so another person can add a one sentence remark like "Yes, I agree with you". It just makes more volume for readers to plow through on here, as well as swelling the amount of pages to have to click through when reading a thread. The quote feature is handy in many cases, but it's not necessary as often as it is used. If you just need to make it clear what or who you are replying to, it's often much simpler and clearer to type the remark, subject, or person's name in the Post Subject slot.
It might also be helpful if the defaults for the quote feature were set for a smaller size font, like this. Please note also that I edited the text being quoted, so the whole post didn't have to be reprinted. Quoting only the parts of the message that are relevent to your own added comments makes it clearer what you are quoting them for.
I knew that someone would have to quote my first note like that. I also knew that the example of their doing it would make my point. The smaller font size is definitely how these quotes are supposed to look:
I for one like the larger font size. I wear glasses. I try to cut down the quote to one sentance too. Who wants to read all that mess.
I completely agree. I think that editing the quote, just like a courtesy when replying to emails, makes a lot of sense. That way, the thought is continued, especially when the thread starts to move off topic as so often happens in the very popular threads.
I want to be considerate to people who have a harder time seeing font size. But I also think the quotes are generally just a mental reminder of what we've already read. That anyone who is reading through a thread has already read the post being quoted, and doesn't usually waste their time actually reading through it again in the bold version. It's just like a bookmark to the post being replied to. I don't picture people squinting to actually read through the quote, but just talking a moment to glance at it and say "oh yeah, that comment" before reading through the normal size response to it. And I think the fact that the quote is boldened makes up for its smaller size. That's how it usually works in books.
I agree with Cathy about the font size for the same reason and the rest of the group re: posting an edited version vs the whole thing.