You've come to the right place, m'dear. A welcoming shoulder. Paine's giving you nothing but treacle and platitudes. Allow me:

1. Is there a preference for or against quoting part of someone's post and then referring to that in the body of one's own reply?

Often, that helps. One can't necessarily assume that one's audience has been slavishly following the whole damned thread. A timely reminder of "point-counterpoint" can be useful.

2. Shouldn't one have something original and meaningful to say when starting a new post? If one doesn't end up having the time to thoughtfully post like that, but does feel strongly enough to enter into "The Fray" conversations why is that person referred to as an "ankle-biter"?

Hmm. A sensitive topic. I started as a purely response poster. Someone put up a post. I took pot-shots. Good practice. Once you get into the rhythm of things, though, you can put up your own top-post targets, anticipate the shots, and then fire back. I refer to this as setting a pit trap, though nobody else picked up on that phrase, so it may not be very good.

3. What is the protocol when one finds oneself filled with loathing toward a poster - based on their shallow, self-promoting, and idiotic posts? Do you ignore them? Down rate them? Engage them in a heated argument? Cuss them out?

This would depend on your skills. Downrating is silly. There are just as many readers curious about a down-rated post as about an up-rated one. No such thing as bad publicity. Ignoring can work, but only if you have tacit agreement with others to ignore them. Otherwise, someone always breaks the ignoring covenant. Once the dam has broken, the whole strategy goes to smash. Ignoring only works if one is tight with the Inner Sanctum. If you have the skill, but not the connections, the best strategy is to lure your quarry into a dreadful and obvious error. Thus earning the applause of the masses for a neat entrisseur, without the victim even realizing.

4. Pray tell PLEASE what is the best way to find good posts, and threads in which one has posted but somehow seem to disappear? Do you click on a poster that you enjoy reading and then page through their recent posts? Do you go to various Frays and look for the self-same poster?

You have me at a loss. I am a regional deity, and have no jurisdiction beyond BOTF. My usual practice is to first check for responses to my own posts, and then to scan the top page for intriguing headlines. Unless your goal is to waste a lot of time, that seems the best strategy. You'll learn who's worth listening to, and there are planety of obsessives to clue you in to the stuff you missed.

Happy Posting!