# New Discourse auto-formatting: Anyone else find this annoying?

**URL:** <https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883>\
**Category:** General\
**Tags:** discourse\
**Created:** [July 30, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883 "2025-07-30T12:28:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![greghendershott](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/greghendershott/32/98_2.png) [@greghendershott](https://racket.discourse.group/u/greghendershott)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/1 "2025-07-30T12:28:44Z")

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The new Discourse UI here to compose a reply or post is pretty annoying, especially when using inline code via backticks.

Try typing:

```scheme
`module->namespace`

```

You get: `module→namespace`. Some auto-ligature thing kicks in. This code example won’t work if people use it.

Also, try typing:

```scheme
"file.rkt"

```

You get: `”file.rkt”` with fancy quotes. This code example won’t work if people try it.

* * *

I kind of miss the older, “less fancy”, thing where it was less automagical, and you had a preview pane.

Today whenever I type “Discourse” I keep getting “Discourage”… but OK that one is from my unhappy brain, not from their software. 😄

- Does anyone else feel the same way?
- If a majority do, is there a way to turn off these options in our Discourse instance?

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**Author:** ![jryans](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/jryans/32/31_2.png) [@jryans](https://racket.discourse.group/u/jryans)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/2 "2025-07-30T12:55:02Z")

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The left side of the formatting bar should have a toggle to go back to the previous Markdown with preview pane editing mode:

![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/racket/original/2X/5/5f529ddbc300411444b8d03d112ca01e32f03b3a.png)

Do these issues still occur even when in Markdown editing mode?

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**Author:** ![jryans](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/jryans/32/31_2.png) [@jryans](https://racket.discourse.group/u/jryans)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/3 "2025-07-30T12:58:19Z")

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> [@greghendershott](#):
>
> - Does anyone else feel the same way?
> - If a majority do, is there a way to turn off these options in our Discourse instance?

To answer your questions...

I also prefer the previous Markdown editing mode. As mentioned above, it should at least still be accessible to everyone via the toggle. They've just made the new rich text editor mode the default.

It should be possible for our Discourse admins to flip the default back to Markdown mode if desired. More info available here: [Choosing the default composer mode for your community - Announcements - Discourse Meta](https://meta.discourse.org/t/choosing-the-default-composer-mode-for-your-community/375476)

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**Author:** ![greghendershott](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/greghendershott/32/98_2.png) [@greghendershott](https://racket.discourse.group/u/greghendershott)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:14pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/4 "2025-07-30T13:14:47Z")

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Oh! I see it now. Thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![greghendershott](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/greghendershott/32/98_2.png) [@greghendershott](https://racket.discourse.group/u/greghendershott)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/5 "2025-07-30T13:18:18Z")

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On my previous reply, I moved the slider toggle to Markdown. That was sticky, and persists at least for now into this other reply. Hooray!

Maybe my preference is being held only in a local cookie, and eventually I'll need to re-assert it. But that's OK. This is good enough, for me.

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**Author:** ![greghendershott](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/greghendershott/32/98_2.png) [@greghendershott](https://racket.discourse.group/u/greghendershott)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/6 "2025-07-30T15:23:23Z")

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Although this isn't a super strong opinion: There might be some value to the admins setting the old way as the default.

I've noticed that especially users new to this community often post code without using code blocks.

Before, that was merely harder to read. But now, if that code is full of automatic pretty quotes and ligatures, it might also be tedious to fix up when copy-pasting into DrRacket or whatever.

(Sure there probably exists for Emacs, or I could write myself, some un-prettify command. But not everyone uses Emacs. Shocking, I know, right? 😉 )

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**Author:** ![jbclements](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/jbclements/32/11_2.png) [@jbclements](https://racket.discourse.group/u/jbclements)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2025, 3:06am UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/7 "2025-08-03T03:06:49Z")

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It ... looks to me like someone already fixed this? Or am I unusual in getting the markdown by default?

John

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**Author:** ![spdegabrielle](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/spdegabrielle/32/95_2.png) [@spdegabrielle](https://racket.discourse.group/u/spdegabrielle)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/8 "2025-08-03T21:00:34Z")

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I’ve changed the default to the markdown editor.

You can toggle your preference with the M/A button at far left of the editing toolbar. (Works on mobile too)

[One of my favourite features is it converts html to markdown (via standard copy/paste) and I am pleased it still works in both modes.]

* * *

toggle editor:

![IMG_0823](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/racket/original/2X/a/a32b9f9be387b087219a4af301c126e288d05201.gif)

Test paste from [https://racket-lang.org](https://racket-lang.org) :

In Racket, programmers define their own loops with **powerful macros**. Indeed, these macros are so powerful that programmers make entire **domain-specific languages** as libraries. No tools, no Makefiles required.

- [Intro To Macros](https://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/macros.html)
- [Macros In Depth](https://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/Macros.html)
- [Making New Languages](https://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/hash-languages.html)
- [Sample #Langs](https://racket-lang.org/languages.html)

Racket is the first language to support **higher-order software contracts** and **safe gradual typing**. Programmers can easily deploy these tools to harden their software.

- [The Contract Guide](https://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/contracts.html)
- [High-Order Contracts](https://www2.ccs.neu.edu/racket/pubs/icfp2002-ff.pdf)
- [The Typed Racket Guide](https://docs.racket-lang.org/ts-guide/index.html)
- [Gradual Typing](https://www2.ccs.neu.edu/racket/pubs/typed-racket.pdf)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spdegabrielle](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/spdegabrielle/32/95_2.png) [@spdegabrielle](https://racket.discourse.group/u/spdegabrielle)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/new-discourse-auto-formatting-anyone-else-find-this-annoying/3883/9 "2025-08-03T21:01:02Z")

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Yeah that was me. Sorry busy weekend
