Usenet quoting

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When Usenet and e-mail users respond to a message, they often want to include some context for the discussion. This is often accomplished by quoting the original message.

Usenet standard quoting refers to the practice of preceding the original message with a > character on each line, and then inserting one's responses inline, using no special designation for the author's messages.

> hello, how are you?
I am fine

When a second response is made to the second message, the second message is again quoting with >, perhaps causing parts of the original message to now be quoted with two >>. This goes on.

>> hello, how are you?
> I am fine
Good, I am also fine.

Enhanced quoting (such as facilitating by the Emacs supercite module), includes more context by using the initials or a short form of the name. The program has to be careful not to quote already quoted material:

first> hello, how are you?

I am fine.

first> hello, how are you?
second> I am fine.

Good, I am also fine.

It is often the case that it makes sense, particularly in the simple quoting case, to insert a note telling who said what:

> Last Saturday, when the sun was nice, Second Guy said:
>> Last thursday, while eating popcorn, First Guy said:
>> hello, how are you?
> I am fine
Good, I am also fine.