[Heyitsrick]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

The forum software doesn't need to provide it. You can do it yourself.

I'm not sure who - editorially, or otherwise - you're referring to about editing a quoted post. It's certainly not me, as I post snippets of people's posts when replying quite a bit, as witnessed by this reply.

Sometimes it may not be a matter of whether someone knows how to edit a quoted post. It could be that they just don't see the need for it, or, perhaps, that there's no salient one-liner in the quote that would constitute enough for other readers to know why they replied.

My point about the forum software is just about usability. There's plenty of software out there in the world (think of a CMS - content management system - like WordPress, for example) that can shift into "excerpt" mode when the content being posted exceeds a certain number of words or characters. At that point, you will see (if it's enabled) a "read more ..." notification. If you click/tap on that notification, the snipped content will then appear on screen. This would be especially useful for people reading in a mobile environment, such as a smartphone. It would entail much less scrolling.

Yes, everyone can edit larger posts when quoting them, but there's billions of things in the world that people can "do themselves". You can get up off the couch and manually change the channel on your TV's cable box by walking over to it, or turn the TV off/on and/or volume up/down on the TV, itself. See? You can do it yourself! But that's not usability in action.

If the person who's quoting a large post thinks there are many points made in the post that needed to be replied to as a whole, then it would be a bit tedious to quote/reply to each point. Could you do it? Sure. Does it work well to do a point-by-point quote/reply? Sometimes it does; no doubt.

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

That brings me to reiterate my previous points about this thread:

Some people are saying "get with the times, do this online" but they can't even manage to figure out how to edit a quoted post.

How about they learn how to use a simple community forum, before chastizing ANYONE who might not be as much of a genius as they are when it comes to online banking and bill paying. You (not necessarily you personally - this is the "editorial you") want everyone to get with the times? You first.

I would say this: that doesn't mean there aren't inefficiencies in the USPS system that can't be addressed. Servicing those who need USPS and keeping the organization efficient are not mutually exclusive. If there are areas (small towns / very rural environments / very poor neighborhoods, etc.) that can't be expected to access the online world at all - or as much - as many others do, then redirect USPS resources to them. But again, that hardly means that the system as a whole can't be examined for systemic inefficiencies, be them methodologies, staffing and/or logistics.