Iirc they didn't want to publish details of the ranking algorithm at some point, to prevent "hacking" of submissions.
Maybe they stopped publishing the code since then.
they would only need to add this to the CSS, yes? then you get the same four-spaces code block, but it doesn't cause horizontal scrollbars any more.
HN admins, could you please add this?
If a blockquote format is desired, that's great, but don't change the code formatting to make it a slightly-less bad (but still horrible, because of monospacing) way of presenting blockquotes.
You know, like how there is "topcolor" already; just a bit more of the same.
And on copy/paste, the linebreaks in the original are preserved, which obviates the code objection answering you below.
Front end is not back end, etc.
I'm given to understand changes may be in the offing, though whether or not this specifically is addressed, I'm not sure.
On desktop browsers with extension support, you can use Stylus to fix this specific annoyance by setting "pre-wrap: word".
And yes, blockquote support would be hugely appreciated.
FYI: https://lobste.rs offers full Markdown for comments.