Two use-cases that are highly coupled are as follows:

1. As a developer and a user, I would like to click on a Quote button on a forum post and have that posting show up in the edit field as a quoted reference.
2. As a reader of a post that has such a quoted reference, I would like to click on some link on that post and have the browser position it on the original quoted source posting without burdening the user to have to manually search for it.

Justification: When I want to read the backstory on a long thread, I need to find originating material to understand the full story. Now, with this feature missing from this forum software used today, I'm going to waste a lot of time going back and re-reading the entire thread.  I might not bother, and waste everyone elses time/energy reiterating concepts that have already been covered adequately. 

Reference the ability of phpBB-based forums that provide this feature.  See https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?t=31696&start=10 for an example.

Find attached an explanation of the above link to spell it out in sufficient detail.

I could suggest just use phpBB, but there may have been valid reasons to not use it that I'm not privy to. Set that aside though, because the need expressed here is still valid. Not having this is a significant speed-bump for my participation in Inkscape development as a user, and for others too.

wastenot

Justification: When I want to read the backstory on a long thread, I need to find originating material to understand the full story. Now, with this feature missing from this forum software used today, I'm going to waste a lot of time going back and re-reading the entire thread. I might not bother, and waste everyone elses time/energy reiterating concepts that have already been covered adequately.

There's already a quote button for the forum and it even links back to the original text. Just select the quote text, scroll down and click the quote button.

#2 was requested back during initial development of the forum, during a very busy and frustrating time.  I was happy to get what we have now, and did not want to push it.  But link back would be nice!

So the idea is that the current backlink (the numbers by the side) would allow you to quote the whole message?

Ok I just now "got" what you were saying. The quote button is nowhere even close to where phpBB sites put it.  Now I was able to do this:

doctormo

There's already a quote button for the forum and it even links back to the original text. Just select the quote text, scroll down and click the quote button.

It is not what I expect at all, because there is no guidance in the web forum UI to know that. I had to re-read your sentence about 5 times before I realized that the "quote button" is the one right above the text field. It is not where I'm used it to be (in phpBB-based forums) which is right above the post of the text you want to quote.  See my .svg file I attached.

Am I the only one on record who was tripped up by this? If so, my apologies.

We don't mind putting in duplicate features to accomodate people with experences of other software. Interfaces can be confusing.

doctormo

So the idea is that the current backlink (the numbers by the side) would allow you to quote the whole message?

Ooohhhh, we already have the link back!  I didn't realize clicking on your name, in the quote above would take me back to the message.  I thought it would show me your profile!

Well that's a big "never mind" then!

Sorry for the late reply.

brynn

I didn't realize clicking on your name, in the quote above would take me back to the message

Since the forum uses the name in that link, users will, like you, conclude that the link will drive to a page that indicates information about the user themselves, not to the specific post by that specific user.

I suggest changing this similar to how phpBB addresses it: Don't use the name in the link, but instead use an icon or some "up arrow" for the link. That makes it more obvious (well, to folks that have used phpBB-based sites which predates this forum software) that you are driving to a post.

For example, at https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?p=263714#p263714, see this:

https://i.imgur.com/hHfMMrY.png

This is a good idea. Considering this is a javascript and stylistic thing, I'm going to leave this issue for a new or junior contributor to help with.

References: Code is here, the best icon to use is `iw-reply` but any will do. User profile is always `/~username` if that part is required. Please avoid English if possible as the blockquote is fixed in place once used (i.e. a German user will blockquote in german and it won't change for an English reader) stick to icons.