#dialogue format

Can someone tell me when the formatting has changed for dialogues in fanfics?

Lately I have seen multiple fics where the formatting is as follows;

“[Sentence]” said Character A. “[Sentence]” said Character B. “[Sentence]” replied Character A.

Before the usual format was like—

“[Sentence]” said Character A.

“[Sentence]” said Character B.

“[Sentence]” replied Character A.

Of course, I understand I have no right to judge, and everyone writes however they want, but as I personally prefer the old formatting, I was wondering when and why it has changed.

For me this stacked formatting is harder to read and more confusing, whilst the separated dialogues are easier to read, clearer and on the plus side resemble published books more, so I find it interesting that it has changed for some reason.

If it was just 1-2 fics, I wouldn’t have mentioned it but like 80-90% of fics in character x reader pairing tags of Criminal Minds and Shadow and Bone are written in this format. I have checked tags in Harry Potter and Bridgerton as well but nothing has changed there and still use the original formatting so obviously it caught my eyes and made me wonder. I have placed some of the tags I have checked in my tags.

I do have to mention I really like seeing fics where the paragraphs are indented, just like I did on this paragraph. Somehow it makes it easier to read, but then again, it is only my personal opinion and it doesn’t mean others think the same way or like the same things.

The radio in my brain: But she wears short skirts, I eat sneakers, she’s cheer captain and I’m eating sneakers, dreaming ‘bout the day eating sneakers every day

Brain: Trenchcrat roats.

Haha it's alright, don't worry about it :D

I know the feeling. I was born in Hungary and the official dialogue formatting was or is, not sure anymore, the dash you mentioned, so switching to the English formatting with quotation marks was interesting.

This is how it was/is in the Hungarian formatting—

— [Sentence] — said Character A. — [Sentence] — replied Character B.

But to be honest, I do prefer the English formatting of quotation marks over the Hungarian formatting of dashes, but I do not prefer the stacked formatting over the "new paragraph, new person" formatting. Indeed, it just feels crowded and confusing.

This one is so much cleaner and easier to read—

“[Sentence]” said Character A. “[Sentence]” replied Character B.

This one feels confusing if not specified who said what and because of its crowdedness it's quite difficult to read for me—

I mean yes, that’s the old way. As in fics under Harry Potter and Bridgerton are still written in the old “new speaker, new paragraph” formatting such as this—

“[Sentence]” said Character A.

“[Sentence]” said Character B.

“[Sentence]” replied Character A.

However, a significantly large number of new fics in the Criminal Minds and Shadow and Bone tags are written in the new stacked way like this—

“[Sentence]” said Character A. “[Sentence]” said Character B. “[Sentence]” replied Character A.