Three Ways To Reply

I think more experienced forums denizens know this but I offer this tip for the masses. How to reply to posts - three ways. 

The first way is the "normal" way most people should use most of the time, and that is to just start typing in the editing box below the previous post. 

The second way is to reply TO a person by name (username). You do that by clicking the little arrow icon right below their post or at the bottom right (doesn't have to be the last post). Doing this will insert an "at" (or ampersand) symbol, @, and their username. Then you type your reply after that. That has the effect of sending them a notification that they have been "mentioned" and will send them an email (unless they have that turned off in their profile). 

So the first way, the 'normal' way, adds posts in a chronological sequence and builds the list of posts. The second way inserts a post into the chronological list and shows as indented in the 'map' of posts (see below). In other words, it doesn't show as chronological because it is a reply to a specific post or person. 

The third way is to quote a previous reply. You do this by clicking the quotation marks in the list of icons at the top of the edit window (or at the bottom right as shown above). This copies all the text from that reply in a shaded box and then you type your reply below that. You use this relatively rarely and to show you are replying to a specific comment that someone made. As a suggestion, if the previous post is long or has multiple sentences or points, edit that post down to the specific point you want to address by quoting it. I see this mistake often in ADVrider when someone quotes a long post with tons of pictures only to say "That's really cool" or something. That takes up a lot of screen real estate and basically shows the person doesn't know how to use the quote feature. Just trying to help here... 

The "map" of posts is not shown by default, I think just to keep the interface clean and simple for most users. If you want to see the list of posts and their relationships, or maybe search for a post by a person or first line, then you can open the 'map'. You can find it at the top of the topic or the original post on the right side. It is the little down arrow. Click that and you will see a list of all the posts. I'll insert an image here. 

Here is the map of posts expanded. 

Click to see it larger. Note the indented posts are 'mentions' directed to that user and may not be in chronological order.

Finally, don't forget to use the little bell icon at the top right. If it is in color you have notifications. Click the icon and a list will drop down showing the replies and 'likes' that you haven't read yet. The first time you do this you will probably have a lot so just click the 'clear all'. Then remember to look at that in the future. I find it useful.