GeezerVison

1. Click the Reply link next a comment's signature.
2. Type your response in the box that appears.
3. Ping editors if you need to, by using the @ key or clicking on the icon (in the toolbar) to search for an editor's name. No one will be pinged unless you link to a username in your comment or your edit summary. However, all editors who are subscribed to receive notifications to the thread will be notified of your comment even if you don't ping anyone. (Optional.)
4. Your signature and timestamp are added automatically.
5. Click Reply to post your comment.

• Automatic signatures, indentation, live preview as you type in wikitext source editor mode, resolution of most edit conflicts
• If it can't resolve the edit conflict automatically, it'll give you an error message. (You can copy your comment and reload the page.)
• In both the source and Visual modes, you can use keyboard shortcuts to make links, to @-mention the person you're replying to, or to add character formatting.
• Keyboard shortcuts for cancelling (Escape) and posting (e.g., ⌘ Command+Return or ctrl+Return)
• Preference to opt out.
• You can switch between visual and source editing modes.
• Edits made with the Reply tool are tagged as such in Special:RecentChanges.
• If someone else posts a comment in the same section while you are typing your own comment, it will alert you. Click Show 1 new comment to see the new comment. If you have already typed part of your comment, it will try to keep your comment.
• Replying can be disabled on individual pages and sections (as described at mw:Help:DiscussionTools/Magic words and markup).
• Automatic "healing" of old links to a talk page comment or thread/section title by showing a notification of the archive location of the thread (as described below at #Linking to talk page comments or threads).

• As of 2023, this tool will not work with multi-line templates or wikitext codes that need to be placed at the start of a line. (e.g., wikitext table syntax). You will not be able to switch to visual mode if your comment contains this syntax. See Reply tool visual mode limitations.
• The Reply tool will only show on:
  • Pages in talk namespaces
  • Pages in namespaces which have been configured to show the 'add signature' tool ($wgExtraSignatureNamespaces). For most Wikimedia wikis this is the project and help namespaces.
  • Pages which have manually added the Add topic button using __NEWSECTIONLINK__
• The Reply tool is visible when it detects a link to a user account and a timestamp on the same line. Some custom signatures will not be detected. See Why can't I reply to this comment?.
• When prior responses are not threaded correctly, the reply tool response might also thread incorrectly; switching to regular replying in that instance might be quicker.

Any logged-in user can opt-out from seeing Reply tool links: Go to Preferences → Editing → Discussion pages → Enable quick replying.

For more detailed help, ask a question on Talk:Talk pages project.

To link to a comment, simply click on the timestamp at the bottom of the comment you would like to link to as shown in the screenshot.

The link will automatically be copied to the clipboard and ready to be inserted in a discussion.

The format of a comment link will look something like this: #c-<username1>-<timestamp1>-<username2>-<timestamp2>

Just like copying a link to a reply, you can also copy the link to a thread. Simply click the timestamp of the first post in a thread and a thread link will be generated as shown in the screenshot.

The format of a thread link will look something like this: #c-<username>-<timestamp>-<topic title>

Note that even if you have a link to a regular topic title like #<topic title>, the tool will try to find the corresponding title in the archives. This should work for all regular topic links going forward. ^[a]

When following a link to a comment or thread that is still active on the target talk page, the browser will jump directly to the target comment and highlight it as shown in the screenshot.

Following a link to a comment or thread that is no longer present directly on the talk page, as it has since been archived, will result in landing on that talk page and a notification message appearing which points to the correct archive location where the thread is now located as shown in the screenshot.

Sometimes it is necessary to display a sentence or paragraph from the article on the talk page so that other editors can easily understand what is being discussed. To quote something without starting a new paragraph, use the {{talk quote inline}} template, often abbreviated as {{tq}}. Use it {{tq|like this}} to produce quotes like this.

An easy way to produce block quotations is to use the {{Quote frame}} or {{Quote}} templates. Use {{Quote frame|Quoted passage from the article.}} to produce:

Quoted passage from the article.

Alternatively, use {{Quote frame |Quoted text |Author |Source}} to produce:

Quoted text — Author , Source

The {{Quote}} template produces an indented quotation with no box; use {{Quote |Quoted text |''Source''}} to produce:

Quoted text

Alternatively, use {{Quote|Quoted text |Author |''Source'', page XX}} to add an author and page number:

Quoted text

For directly quoting another user, the {{Talkquote}} template places quoted text inside a green box, as in: {{Talkquote |Quoted text |Example |ts=12:00, 01 January 2000 (UTC)}}, which produces:

Quoted text
— User:Example 12:00, 01 January 2000 (UTC)

To keep a list of accompanying references within a section, or directly after your comment (rather than at the end of the page), add the {{reflist-talk}} template below it. To save screen space or reduce visual clutter, you may use the {{sources-talk}} template instead; this collapses the list.