–Even when you “reply” to a specific post, this doesn’t always display. Quoting makes sure others know what you’re referring to.
–With the recent Forum update, the “system” edits our posts if we quote an entire post by removing the quote completely. You can workaround this by adding a space at the beginning or by…
–Highlight[ing] the most important part of the quote–the part that most directly relates to your response.
–Quoting helps preserve a piece of the post that doesn’t violate Forum guidelines in case the original is deleted.
–Use multiple quotes for multiple ideas.

–If you’re referring to a specific thread, post, policy, help page, etc, provide a link to that thing as a time-saving courtesy to other users.
–Instead of just tacking on a link to the end of a post or randomly elsewhere, use embedded links, which is where the words are highlighted in blue and are clickable. See below for how-to.
–Consider putting “(link)” after your embedded link (a la @Dogtamer, seen here) or bolding your embedded link text for greater visibility (a la me, seen right here).
–If posting several links, consider making a bulleted list instead of embedded links. Right now on the Forum, this would just mean copying the link address, pasting it in your reply, and then adding an " * " (asterisk) and space at the beginning.

Embedded link how-to:

1 - Copy the address of the thing you want to link.

2 - Go to your reply-in-progress and click (the hyperlink icon) in the format bar.

3 - Paste your copied address into the required field and click “OK”.

–Bold, italics, links, screenshots, bullets, quotes (which don’t have to be for just quotes ^^^)–all of these things help to make your post more readable.
–See @Doctor_Love’s post above, where they combined formatting with “conceptual summation” (copyright!) for increased readability. Here’s their great example!

–For long horizontal lines to divide post topics, type THREE “_” (underscores) together in a row, no spaces. See below for sample.
–For dash-line sub-bullets that stay indented (like these!), type TWO “-” (dashes) together in a row, no spaces.
–For “arrow click hide/unhide” text, use the command “[details=blahblahblah]” on a fresh line before your hidden text and close it with “[/details]” (also on a fresh line) after your hidden text. Compliments of @Bee_Blessed.
–For emphasizing text as a “header” (i.e., making it a little bigger and bolder), type the text and then put ONE “-” (dash) underneath. See below for sample.
–Use capital letters for emphasis (not for shouting), when helpful.

–If you are replying directly to another user.
–If you want another user to see something in your post.
–If you are referring to an idea that they’ve already mentioned.
–If you need to give credit where credit is due.

–Greet the OP or user you’re responding to.
–Use emojis wisely, when effective for clarifying the tone of a statement whose text could be open to interpretation.
–Feel free to ignore the “3 sentences are a paragraph” rule and separate your text wherever needed for clarity. This is not a graded essay.
–Try to provide something helpful or positive in most responses.
–Stay objective and professional (though not formal) in responses.
–Proofread. Pay attention to grammar, spelling, and typos, but don’t get hung up on these things, for yourself or others. Feel free to start sentences with conjunctions and end them with prepositions.