That said
I'm having a punctuation issue. After being taught in primary school and through secondary school that the correct way to indicate speech would be "blah blah," with any punctuation inside the speechmarks, I've realised most people leave it outside the speech marks like "blah blah", flicking through books there seems to be a mix. Which is correct?
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:18, 4 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

It depends of what you want to say
If the speaker is pausing, then the punctuation goes inside the speech marks. If you, telling the story, are pausing, then out of them.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:19, Reply)

The former.
Most workaday punctuation should remain inside the quotation marks. If, however, you're using something like a colon, or the less formally defined "..." then you'd probably do better to put it outside them.
(LongJohnBaldry, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:19, Reply)

I've been using a colon for many years.

( Undulating Tentacles of Love getting fun down to acceptable levels, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:47, Reply)

don't forget
a lot of 'books' these days are written by illiterate scumbags. Depends what you're reading.
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:20, Reply)

I find myself correcting loads of things in the erotic books I read these days.
Totally throws me off my stroke.
( Lisette von Falcon, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:28, Reply)

the grammar
or the procedure?
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:33, Reply)

It could be a random sentence like "I walked to my the front door"

( Lisette von Falcon, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:41, Reply)

It depends on what's happening with the speech
If the quotation is going to be continued, it would be inside the speech marks: "blah blah," said this person, "blah blah blah."

If it's in the middle of a sentence it would get none, and if it's a quote in the sentence, it would probably be outside. It's one of those ridiculous rules that makes English hard to learn properly.
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:21, Reply)

Thanks all
I was pretty sure I was right, but it seems universal these days to leave it outside, so I was left wondering if it was me that was wrong.

I see I should not have doubted myself haha
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 23 Nov 2010, 16:25, Reply)