# Question about nested quotes and the search... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 10, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671 "2010-10-10T06:06:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/1 "2010-10-10T06:06:04Z")
So I recently did a search on recent posts of mine. I discovered at least one of the results was listing words that weren’t mine (it was written by the person I was responding to) without anything in the result saying that it wasn’t. Is this a bug or a feature? Any way I can avoid this in the future (FWIW, the nested quoting in the post itself was okay). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/2 "2010-10-10T20:26:41Z")
If you are searching for the word “X” or the phrase “X Y Z,” you’ll get hits both for a post that uses the word or phrase directly, \*and \*for a post quoting a post that uses the word or phrase, even if that post doesn’t use it itself. Does that answer your question? Otherwise I don’t think I understand what you’re asking. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/3 "2010-10-10T20:56:33Z")
I think he means that if you look at the list “find all posts by **Leaper** ” it shows a list of his posts, with a few words quoted from each post. One of the posts on the list is [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13008736#post13008736). The words quoted on the list of posts come not from **Leaper** , but from \*\*Starving Artist \*\* who was quoted by Leaper. He is wondering why the list of posts it shows the quote, rather than his own words. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/4 "2010-10-11T01:08:50Z")
That is exactly what I meant, thanks. 🙂 I thought generalities might do, rather than getting all particular, but I guess this is the best way to go. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/5 "2010-10-11T01:37:38Z")
Ah, yes, okay. I now understand the question. I do not, however, know what the answer is. **rueful smiley** ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/6 "2010-10-11T02:04:07Z")
I thought you were saying that, if you searched for doohickey, and you quoted someone else quoting someone else that said the word, it would still show up on the list of posts. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/7 "2010-10-11T03:09:27Z")
Probably because, in the given example, [noparse] [Quote=Starving Artist] [/noparse] is the first thing in the code, so it parses **Starving Artist’s** “layer” of the post first. To take that out of a context, the layers of the example post looks like this: 1: **Leaper** 2: **Starving Artist** 3: **Leaper** However, the first code in the post points to layer 2, so that gets parsed first. It might seem logical that since what happens directly after the first quote tag is that **SA** quotes **Leaper** , his words should have come first. But apparently VBulletin runs with the first thing it finds. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/8 "2010-10-11T04:25:22Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > Probably because, in the given example, [noparse] > [Quote=Starving Artist] > > [/noparse] is the first thing in the code, so it parses **Starving Artist’s** “layer” of the post first. > > To take that out of a context, the layers of the example post looks like this: > 1: **Leaper** > 2: **Starving Artist** > 3: **Leaper** > > However, the first code in the post points to layer 2, so that gets parsed first. It might seem logical that since what happens directly after the first quote tag is that **SA** quotes **Leaper** , his words should have come first. But apparently VBulletin runs with the first thing it finds. So, you’re saying it’s a “feature.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/9 "2010-10-11T05:07:43Z")
So how do I avoid this next time, if I wanted to quote someone who writes something I disagree with enough to not want associated with me, even accidentally? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nested-quotes-and-the-search/556671/10 "2010-10-11T08:10:31Z")
Does it happen with single layer quotes? If not, then just unnest them. I do it all the time. Just highlight the inner quote, and drag it outside the outer quote. (or use copy-and-paste if you use IE). Assuming it doesn’t happen with regular quotes, I assume there’s something in the code that was specially written to not treat quotes as part of a person’s post, but that it doesn’t work with nesting.