Perhaps I should word the issue in a different way:
  1. use of blockquote doesnt really say who we are quoting.
  2. use of blockquote is long to type
  3. use of blockquote requires a closing blockquote, which is even more typing
  4. quoting is a common practice
What we need:
  1. we need to attribute the original quote
  2. we need something short to type
  3. we need a "reply, including quote" button which includes the quote and attributes it well, perhaps even linking back to it.
Brainstorming

parens

I like the idea of just bracketing the whole thing somehow: 
[q://monk-name&node-number
IPSUM LOREM
df a
df 
adf
XYLEM PHLOEM
fd
a d
fa
fd
PUSHEM POPPEM

]

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In reply to How can we shorten the quoting of a post we reply to? by metaperl

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