# Post numbers



## elroy

I don't like the (very frequent) habit of _typing_ post numbers in the body of a post (for example, "As XYZ said in* Post 21*,..."), because post numbering often changes due to post deletions, thread splits, etc.  Someone looking for "Post 21" may not find it because it may no longer be in the thread in question, or it may have a new number. The ideal solution is to _link_ to the post in question, as that link will always lead to the right post, no matter what its number is or what thread it's in (as long as the post is still accessible).

The forum's quality and usefulness as a reference source and linguistic database are reduced by these kinds of discrepancies and confusions.


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## Roxxxannne

Thanks for that "household hint," elroy.  I never thought about post numbers changing.


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## fenixpollo

elroy said:


> I don't like the (very frequent) habit of _typing_ post numbers in the body of a post (for example, "As XYZ said in* Post 21*,..."), because post numbering often changes due to post deletions, thread splits, etc.


I wish Xenforo didn't do this for deleted posts. Once a post is created in a thread, it should keep its original post number, even if it's deleted. But of course if a post is moved out of a thread, then the same re-numbering problem would still occur.


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## Paulfromitaly

fenixpollo said:


> Once a post is created in a thread, it should keep its original post number, even if it's deleted.


Xenforo features a better option that doesn't require any post number reference: Quoting.
If I very easily and quickly quote a message or part of it, I don't need to keep track of post numbers.


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## fenixpollo

Paulfromitaly said:


> Xenforo features a better option that doesn't require any post number reference: Quoting.
> If I very easily and quickly quote a message or part of it, I don't need to keep track of post numbers.


Yes, and it jumps you straight to the quoted post if you click on the little "up arrow" next to the name of the poster (in this post, it's located next to the words "Paulfromitaly said"). Great point!


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## elroy

Paulfromitaly said:


> Xenforo features a better option that doesn't require any post number reference: Quoting.


Yes, but that’s not always practical or desirable.  If someone posts a six-paragraph post, and you just want to say “I agree with what X said in Post 37,” you don’t really want to quote the whole post.  Or, if you want to comment on a number of posts that say similar things, you don’t really want to clutter your post by quoting them all.  So I would say _either quote or link_, depending on what works best, but don’t type the post number into your post.  Even “OP” should be avoided, because if the thread is added to another, the OP won’t be the OP anymore.


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## Henares

elroy said:


> If someone posts a six-paragraph post, and you just want to say “I agree with what X said in Post 37,” you don’t really want to quote the whole post.


You can delete the unwanted part. Just as I did


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## elroy

Not if you want to refer to all six paragraphs.


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