[paul cotter (OP)]

I tried to reply to Hamdani on his "origin of the magnetic field" and it came up as a new topic which I find I cannot delete. Any suggestions?

[Halc]

I tried to reply to Hamdani on his "origin of the magnetic field" and it came up as a new topic which I find I cannot delete. Any suggestions?

I fixed it. Not deleted. It is now a reply to that topic.
As for why it occurred, no idea.  Wrong button pushed?  The topic title was different ("field" instead of "force"), so that means it was never composed as a reply in the first place, and suggests the post wasn't opened via the 'quote selected' option.

[paul cotter (OP)]

Occasionally when replying the forum software will say a title is required before this action can be carried out. This has happened several times and when I add a title the reply is posted correctly. I have found that whatever title I use is not critical, ie it does not have to match exactly what the OP has used and I used what I thought Hamdani had used. Weird. PS: thanks, Halc.

[alancalverd]

If you are replying to the last post in a topic, have you tried using "quick reply" at the bottom of the topic page?  No requirement for a title.

[paul cotter (OP)]

Hi Alan, no such "quick reply" appears on my screen. I am however using an antiquated computer/os, which should have been dumped long ago. I am in the habit of using things until no useful functioning can be achieved before discarding them.