I get the impression that asterisks (*) are used instead of quote marks ("). Correct?

Assuming you mean using quotations of other people in posts here on the board:

Actually, the software that creates that interface that users use to enter their posts, called 'board' software (This particular version being phpBB look near the bottom of the page to see the copyright), supports a method of formatting text referred to as BBCode - so that one can manually use quotation marks (of either the single or double variety) to quote someone:

He said, "Hey!"

He said, 'Hey!'

or one can use the built in quotation generation machine to do ti for you:

He said:

Also, when you post, you find Options on the lower left of the post box. Underneath you find 'BBCode is ON'; clicking on that BBCode link will show you what tags do and don't work on the CC Forum. One great extension over other forums' BBCode is the 'table' feature!

I think you are referring to the habit of *some people* to use the *asterisk* when quoting others instead of the more "proper" quotation marks.

Just a bad habit.

I tend to use asterisks to provide emphasis that sometimes gets overlooked if I change the typeface to a bold font.

Or use **both** to make it really stand out.

Hey, that works!

I do that as well....

but instead of using quotation marks for quotations, I tend to use the BBCode [ quote ] tag....

He said: *If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards.*

He said:

Is there any place I can use to check that my BBCode tags are correct and showing up as I had intended? I can always add BBCode "exercises" to a post and then edit them out.

Try posting in The Range .

Anything here gets cleared out periodically and it's a good place to experiment.