Editing Posting style (section)

===Attribution lines===
Quoted material is often preceded by an ''attribution line'' that identifies its author.  These lines are particularly helpful in discussions between multiple parties. For example:

 Nancy wrote:
 <span style="color:red">> Peter wrote:</span>
 <span style="color:blue">>> When will we have the performance figures?</span>
 <span style="color:red">> The tests will be completed next week. </span>
 
 Peter wrote:
 <span style="color:red">> Mary wrote:</span>
 <span style="color:blue">>> We should meet today to discuss the marketing strategy.</span>
 <span style="color:red">> Better wait, we do not have the West Coast sales data yet.</span>
 
 I agree with Peter.  We need the sales data and also Nancy's
 performance figures.  Let's meet next Friday after lunch.

This reply quotes two messages, one by Nancy (itself a reply to Peter) and one by Peter (itself a reply to Mary).

Many mail agents will add these attribution lines automatically to the top of the quoted material.  Note that a newly added attribution line should not get the quotation marker, since it is not part of the quoted text; so that the level indicator of the attribution line is always one less than the corresponding text. Doing otherwise may confuse the reader and also e-mail interfaces that choose the text color according to the number of leading markers.

Instead of an attribution line, one may indicate the author by a comment in brackets, at the beginning of the quotation:

 <span style="color:blue">>> [Peter:] When will we have the performance figures?</span>
 <span style="color:red">> [Nancy:] The tests will be completed next week. </span>
 <span style="color:blue">>> [Mary:] We should meet today to discuss the marketing strategy.</span>
 <span style="color:red">> [Peter:] Better wait, we do not have the West Coast sales data yet.</span>
 
 I agree with Peter.  We need the sales data and Nancy's
 performance figures.  Let's meet next Friday after lunch.

Another alternative, used in [[Fidonet]] and some [[mail user agent]]s, is to place the initials of the author before the quoting marker. This may be used with or without attribution lines:

 Nancy wrote:
 <span style="color:red">N> Peter wrote:</span>
 <span style="color:blue">P>> When will we have the performance figures?</span>
 <span style="color:red">N> The tests will be completed next week. </span>
 
 Peter wrote:
 <span style="color:red">P> Mary wrote:</span>
 <span style="color:blue">M>> We should meet today to discuss the marketing strategy.</span>
 <span style="color:red">P> Better wait, we do not have the West Coast sales data yet.</span>
 
 I agree with Peter.  We need the sales data and also Nancy's
 performance figures.  Let's meet next Friday after lunch.