MasterErik:
Place a # before and after?
No, not that. When you're in the reply window, there's an array of buttons marked with symbols above the text window. One of them is marked with a "#". When you push that button, "code tags" will appear in the text window at the cursor position. Paste your code between them, and your post will show it like this:< some code > ...It'll be marked as code, and everyone's browser will display it literally, and won't treat anything it finds as some sort of special character. If you want to see a special character sequence in action, try putting an "8" in parenthesis, and then push the "Preview" button.
Also, we'll be likely to get more participation if you don't quote entire messages. I'd suggest deleting the parts that you're not directly addressing from your reply. I think that viewers see long stretches of quoted text, think the post is likely to be boring, and move on without reading.