for example I've not yet dared try to 'attach' a quote to a reply. I tried reading the instructions, but the alternatives and provisos 'did my head in'.
Welcome back, Samrim. Are you talking about adding a quote like the one above?
If so, it's actually not too hard. You can click the "quote" button in the upper right-hand corner of the person's post, and it will automatically open up a reply window with their quote in it. Or you can hit "reply" to start a new reply window, then position the cursor in the window where you want the quote to appear, and then click "quote" from the list of messages below the window. You can do this as many times as you want in the same reply, quoting different people's messages. If you don't want to quote their whole message, just delete accordingly.
I know what you mean about being hesitant, though. It took me a long time to try it. Then another long time to figure out how to create an avatar. And I still haven't mastered posting photos in my message (let alone photoshopping them first!). Never enough time (for figuring those techy things out) is right.
By the way, my name is Katherine and I'm in the "Ennis and Jack were lucky (though not as lucky as they deserved to be)" camp.
PS, there's an easier way than "search" to find replies to your posts. Up near the top of the page, there's a box labeled "user info." Click on "show new replies to your posts" and it will give you a list of all the threads you've posted on that others have added to. Or you can click on your own username, which will take you to a page where you can click on "show this user's posts" or something like that, and it will produce a list of all your posts.