Why not simply replace the quote button with a reply button?

It doesn't appear to be so simple.

The Post Reply button is accompanied with code dealing with whether a thread is closed or not. It also comes from the SHOWTHREAD template instead of the postbit template. Most likely there are code differences.

Unless I'm reading this whole discussion wrong, I thought you could solve the quote problem by not quoting at all in the reply. If someone wishes to reply with a quote, they will have to cut and paste.

In the postbit and postbit_legacy templates...

replace...
<a href="$post[replylink]" rel="nofollow"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/<if condition="$post['forwardlink']">reply_small<else />quote</if>.gif" alt="$vbphrase[reply_with_quote]" border="0" /></a>

with...
<a href="$post[replylink]&noquote=1" rel="nofollow"><img src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/reply_small.gif" alt="$vbphrase[reply]" border="0" /></a>

You have pointed out what I haven't seen - the forest for the trees or whatever that saying goes.

Apparently, all I need to do is add this code...

just before...

And offer BOTH methods to my users! You see, not ALL vBulletin web sites are frequented by savvy vBulletin users. Unfortunately, in my case it is made far easier for the user to click the Quote button than the (missing) Reply button. Now both will be available.

So, where did "&noquote=1" come from? That's the key! Sometimes things can be so simple with a little nudge in the correct direction.

Thank you.

Now, if we had the <if> statement to flag the last post in a thread, we could choose the proper code from above, reply or quote.

How's this?