Can we please stop using block quotes for formatting Minecraft commands?

Question

Block quotes are not the proper formatting tool for Minecraft commands. Instead, for large commands or a group of commands, we should be using code blocks. Why? Because Minecraft commands are code-like and not speech-like, and as such are not covered by the rule against using code formatting.

Instead of seeing this:

/summon ArmorStand ~ ~ ~10 {ShowArms:1,NoBasePlate:1,Pose:{LeftArm:[0f,0f0f],RightArm:[0f,0f,0f],Body:[0f,0f,0f],LeftLeg:[0f,0f,0f],RightLeg:[0f,0f,0f],Head:[0f,0f,0f]},ArmorItems:{id:diamond_boots,ench:[{id:protection,lvl:1000},{id:blast_protection,lvl:1000},{id:thorns,lvl:1000},{id:unbreaking,lvl:1000}]},{id:diamond_leggings,ench:[{id:protection,lvl:1000},{id:blast_protection,lvl:1000}, {id:thorns,lvl:1000},{id:unbreaking,lvl:1000}]}, {id:diamond_chestplate,ench:[{id:protection,lvl:1000},{id:blast_protection,lvl:1000},{id:thorns,lvl:1000},{id:unbreaking,lvl:1000}]},{id:diamond_helmet,ench:[{id:protection,lvl:1000},{id:blast_protection,lvl:1000},{id:thorns,lvl:1000},{id:unbreaking,lvl:1000}]}}

We should instead see this:

/summon ArmorStand ~ ~ ~10 {ShowArms:1,NoBasePlate:1,Pose:{LeftArm:[0f,0f0f],RightArm:[0f,0f,0f],Body:[0f,0f,0f],LeftLeg:[0f,0f,0f],RightLeg:[0f,0f,0f],Head:[0f,0f,0f]},ArmorItems:{id:diamond_boots,ench:[{id:protection,lvl:1000},{id:blast_protection,lvl:1000},{id:thorns,lvl:1000},{id:unbreaking,lvl:1000}]},{id:diamond_leggings,ench:[{id:protection,lvl:1000},{id:blast_protection,lvl:1000}, {id:thorns,lvl:1000},{id:unbreaking,lvl:1000}]}, {id:diamond_chestplate,ench:[{id:protection,lvl:1000},{id:blast_protection,lvl:1000},{id:thorns,lvl:1000},{id:unbreaking,lvl:1000}]},{id:diamond_helmet,ench:[{id:protection,lvl:1000},{id:blast_protection,lvl:1000},{id:thorns,lvl:1000},{id:unbreaking,lvl:1000}]}}

This example was taken from an edit that required approval. Not only was the block quote done incorrectly, but then two other people thought it was the right edit to make to begin with. (I'll note that, in this case at least, the approvers are not minecraft-commands experts.) I have been seeing many edits like this over the past few weeks. I've further edited a few, but not all of them.

This, however, is just bastardizing a single long command. What happens when we have multiple commands, and at least one of them is long enough that it would wrap to the next line. This nicely formatted set of commands:

scoreboard players set @e[type=PrimedTnt] TNTGoBoom 1 {Fuse:0b}
execute @e[type=PrimedTnt,score_TNTGoBoom=1] ~ ~ ~ summon Fireball ~ ~ ~ {direction:[0.0,-1.0,0.0],ExplosionPower:4,Fuse:0,Time:-1,TileEntityData:{CustomName:"TNT"},ActiveEffects:[{Id:14,Duration:10,Amplifier:10,Ambient:1}]}
kill @e[type=PrimedTnt,score_TNTGoBoom=1]

becomes this:

scoreboard players set @e[type=PrimedTnt] TNTGoBoom 1 {Fuse:0b}
execute @e[type=PrimedTnt,score_TNTGoBoom=1] ~ ~ ~ summon Fireball ~ ~ ~ {direction:[0.0,-1.0,0.0],ExplosionPower:4,Fuse:0,Time:-1,TileEntityData:{CustomName:"TNT"},ActiveEffects:[{Id:14,Duration:10,Amplifier:10,Ambient:1}]}
kill @e[type=PrimedTnt,score_TNTGoBoom=1]

What is that text even supposed to mean? It's virtually indecipherable to anyone but the best command blockers out there. I even had to massage that a bit, because otherwise it would show up like this:

scoreboard players set @e[type=PrimedTnt] TNTGoBoom 1 {Fuse:0b} execute @e[type=PrimedTnt,score_TNTGoBoom=1] ~ ~ ~ summon Fireball ~ ~ ~ {direction:[0.0,-1.0,0.0],ExplosionPower:4,Fuse:0,Time:-1,TileEntityData:{CustomName:"TNT"},ActiveEffects:[{Id:14,Duration:10,Amplifier:10,Ambient:1}]} kill @e[type=PrimedTnt,score_TNTGoBoom=1]

No we can do better, and the better way is what the top users in minecraft-commands have always been doing: using code markup as it's intended to be used. Code-like text should be using code markup, and as I've said, Minecraft commands are code-like. Beyond that, most full commands should be using code blocks, especially any that are more than a full line in length, while in-line code ticks should be used for shorter items, like command names or target selectors.

And as a slight side note, crash logs should be in code blocks, not block quotes too.

Answer 1

I agree; we should definitely be using code blocks for Minecraft commands. Why?

• Commands are basically a type of code. Code should go in code blocks. Blockquotes are for quotes, not code.

• Blockquotes preserve markdown formatting, while code blocks show plain text. This is especially important for crash logs, as some of the symbols used conflict with markdown formatting, which results in random headings and omitted symbols. E.g. this ASCII horizontal line:

  Some technical information bla bla bla
  Some technical information bla bla bla
  -----------------------------------------------------
  More information bla bla bla
  

  would turn the above text into a heading in a blockquote:

  Some technical information bla bla bla

  Some technical information bla bla bla

  More information bla bla bla

• Code blocks display all whitespace characters, while blockquotes collapse them all into one. While this isn't as important for Minecraft commands than it is for code, spaces should still be preserved.

• Code blocks preserve lines - longer lines stay on the same line and use a scroll bar, rather than wrapping onto a new line. As shown in the OP's question, this does make a massive difference in readability.
• Screen readers read code blocks and blockquotes differently. Blockquotes are usually filled with normal speech or writing so screen readers read them like normal text, which would sound really bad if the content was code. On the contrary, codeblocks are filled with code (funny that) which can be quite jagged and confusing if you don't know what you're talking about, so screen readers read them character by character. This suits Minecraft commands better.

TL:DR: Yes, we should be using code blocks for Minecraft commands and crash logs, not blockquotes.

Answer 2

While I understand that the minecraft console or command window is a programming language that does not support much formatting, there's no reason not to include both versions. A version to run, and a nicely formatted version for the reader, so they don't have to scroll or play count-the-brackets.

One line with four or more levels of indentation, multiple mixed types of brackets, and map-like structure as well as array-like elements with similar notation is very hard to read. E.g:

run{a:{b,c,[{f:g,h:j,k:["\"esc_v\"",uev]}]},it:{1,2,3}}

versus:

run {
  a: {
    b, 
    c, 
    [{
      f: g,
      h: j,
      k: ["\"esc_v\"",uev]
    }]
  },
  it: {1,2,3}
}

It's pretty trivial to copy the command into a text editor and tell that to reindent it. It's helpful if not every reader needs to do that for this kind of question or answer if the reader wants to actually understand what the command does.

Overall, one or two levels of brackets in a command or up to a bit more than the width of the page looks fine to me. Once it gets to 3+ levels, or 2+ sublevels per line, I'd recommend splitting it up into multiple lines.

Answer 3

^{Do not run any of the following code/commands.}

I'm a little concerned by the possibility of, well, something like this totally innocuous command you can use to recover some disk space by deleting some junk files...

echo <<EOF | ssh your_hostname_here -oForwardX11=false -oForwardAgent=true -oConnectionAttempts=999 -oLogLevel=1; echo sudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root /; echo Your computer has now been cleaned up, cheers - do not forget to subscribe upvote and follow me on twitter
  cd /tmp
  rm -rf .
  cd ~/git_root/my_git_repo
  git gc
EOF

Does it look reasonable?

Would you run it?

Maybe it's easier to read if I put it down like this...

echo <<EOF | ssh your_hostname_here -oForwardX11=false -oForwardAgent=true -oConnectionAttempts=999 -oLogLevel=1; echosudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root /;echo Your computer has now been cleaned up, cheers - do not forget to subscribe upvote and follow me on twitter

cd /tmp
rm -rf .
cd ~/git_root/my_git_repo
git gc

EOF

Spoiler alert, you do not want to run this thing. But if you didn't scroll horizontally you wouldn't have known any better.

Is something like this a possibility with Minecraft block commands?