Experiment Topic is solved

[John Little]

[spoiler]experiment[/spoiler]
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[Spoiler=click to reveal]experiment[/spoiler]

Im sure Ive seen hidden text here. Put me out of my misery, please!

[Vlot Vlaams]

[spoiler]experiment[/spoiler]
[Hide]experiment[/hide]

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[Spoiler=click to reveal]experiment[/spoiler]

Im sure Ive seen hidden text here. Put me out of my misery, please!

[hidden] did work, right? but you see it because you are a member
[spoil] will work too, but not [spoiler], and there is no "custom" prompt.
[details=<prompt>] works too, and it allow a prompt

Do you need more? so please tell us.

[Vlot Vlaams]

also, when editing a post, hit the link to all "markdown" explanations

you'll find this

and this

[Vlot Vlaams]

app.php/help/markdown#:~:text=Omhoog-,G ... k spoilers

[John Little]

Excellent! Thank you!

► Show Spoiler

experiment

► Show Spoiler

[John Little]

I'm intrigued by the fact that looking into the problem of the missing data for gsalinas, one of my replies had two sets of double underscores (as part of their duolingo name) which somehow rendered as bold commands.
experiment

As it has here. Never noticed that before!

gabriel__salinas seems ok but with another set of underscores, the underscores disappear and turn the text bold.

Here:

.....
I have tried looking for that name on duolingo itself and cannot find that name with two under scores there either. There are a lot of "gabriel"s (with 2 underscores) but no "gabrielsalina"s

I dont know why those two underscores act as bold commands They display correctly when I look in edit mode. I wonder if that's a clue?

Edit mode screenshot

Screenshot_20260304-191627.png

[Vlot Vlaams]

I dont know why those two underscores act as bold commands

because they act as a pair. The first starts bold text, the seconds switches it off

there are no different types of underscore in all you typed before.

I checked the text carefully. All underscores in your snippet appear to be the same standard ASCII underscore character:

Code: Select all

_
Unicode: U+005F
Name: LOW LINE

I do not see any of these alternative characters that sometimes cause issues:

Character	Unicode	Name	Looks like
_	U+005F	LOW LINE	normal underscore
＿	U+FF3F	FULLWIDTH LOW LINE	wider underscore
‗	U+2017	DOUBLE LOW LINE	thicker
﹍	U+FE4D	DASHED LOW LINE	dashed
﹎	U+FE4E	CENTRELINE LOW LINE	slightly different

Your text only contains the regular _ character everywhere.

What is happening

The behaviour you describe comes from markup parsing, not different underscore characters.

Many markup systems treat:

Code: Select all

__text__

as bold.

So this part:

Code: Select all

__experiment__

is interpreted as:

experiment

When you write a username like:

Code: Select all

gabriel__salinas

some parsers see:

Code: Select all

gabriel + __salinas

or try to interpret the __ as the start of bold formatting, which can lead to strange rendering depending on the forum software.

Why it looks fine in edit mode

In edit mode the text is shown raw (no parsing).
In preview/render mode the forum parses formatting → the underscores become markup.

Common fixes

Forums usually solve this by:

Escaping underscores

Code: Select all

gabriel\_\_salinas

Using code formatting

Code: Select all

`gabriel__salinas`

Disabling markdown inside quotes (forum setting)

---

Conclusion:

• All underscores in your sample are identical (_).
• The bold effect is caused by markup interpretation of __, not different characters.

---

Here are two quick ways to detect mixed underscore characters in text.

---

Fast visual trick (works anywhere)

Paste your text into something like Notepad++, Visual Studio Code, or Sublime Text and search using regex:

Code: Select all

[_＿‗﹍﹎]

This pattern matches several underscore-like characters:

Character	Unicode	Name
_	U+005F	normal underscore
＿	U+FF3F	fullwidth underscore
‗	U+2017	double low line
﹍	U+FE4D	dashed low line
﹎	U+FE4E	centreline low line

If your editor highlights different symbols, you know mixed characters are present.

---

Precise Unicode inspection

Paste the text into a Unicode inspector like:

• Unicode Character Inspector
• BabelMap

Then click the character. It will show something like:

Code: Select all

Character: _
Unicode: U+005F
Name: LOW LINE

If you ever see something like:

Code: Select all

U+FF3F FULLWIDTH LOW LINE

then the text contains a different underscore character.

---

Super-simple test trick (very useful)

Replace all underscores with something visible:

Code: Select all

_

→ replace with

Code: Select all

[UNDERSCORE]

If some underscores don't change, they are different Unicode characters.

---

For your forum issue specifically

The real trigger is likely the forum parser (BBCode / Markdown) interpreting:

Code: Select all

__text__

as bold.
That’s common in systems like:

• Markdown
• Discourse
• phpBB

---

[John Little]

because they act as a pair. The first starts bold text, the seconds switches it off

as bold.
That’s common in systems like:

• Markdown
• Discourse
• phpBB

---

Thank you, Vlot. Very comprehensive answer!

[Vlot Vlaams]

Thank you, Vlot. Very comprehensive answer!

Not for nothing there is "vlot" in my alias

I liked a lot the way member "skalpadda" used to reply on questions in the DL Swedish forum.
Always very well structured to very much to the point.
We had very little trolling there too - a nice quiet place - disregarding "gaming and competition"

A bit like here

But in my case I can never format things very well right from the start.
So it's in fact AI formatting and structuring my basic input, I spawn ideas and hints, AI does the rest.

But I prefer such above random text in which one can't find back the real answer to the original question.
(like too often the case on former DL)

But, one has to know the limitations of AI too.
In terms of formatting - perfect
In terms of language produced in the outpur - perfect
Understanding the question in any language - works perfect.
==> (but I have no experience with asking non-latin written questions)
Questions about language grammar - not always explained "deep enough"
Questions about words or counting - questionnable
==> (like name 20 words ending on -lijk => it will list other words too)
Images - it has improved a lot since the beginning (it can now write text in some decent way)
Politeness - it works, if one asks for it
Use for free - you can do A LOT for free till some daily limit is reached.

I see it like this - it's a good complement to all the other tools and apps on a PC or phone
But it makes one so lazy !!

That led to my wife asking: "What do children still have to learn at school?" ... for all they need there is a tool or app.

I had only one reply: "handwriting AI prompts" or is that also a skill doomed to disappear soon.

[John Little]

==
Use for free - you can do A LOT for free till some daily limit is reached.

I see it like this - it's a good complement to all the other tools and apps on a PC or phone
But it makes one so lazy !!

I find Gpt comes up with the most precise answers but I'm limited to 5 a day. It found and gave me the part number for a bosche strimmer spare and contact details for suppliers!