# Quote Boxes Screwing Up **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 27, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139 "2010-07-27T02:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/21 "2010-07-27T16:15:17Z")
But what is the advantage in making the nesting the default? Why make people change their habits, and produce a lot of misleading errors along the way? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/22 "2010-07-27T16:18:28Z")
Because for those of us who want to use nested quotes, it’s a hell of a lot easier to have the system not auto-strip out the inner quotes than to go laboriously go searching back up through the thread to re-quote each inner post (and inner inner post and so on) into the appropriate place. The board worked this way for years and no one ever complained. People are only complaining about the switch back now because they’re not used to it. Soon enough, they’ll be used to it again. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/23 "2010-07-27T16:24:52Z")
Sure, it’s easier for you, _if_ you want to nest quotes. But I’m thinking it’s worse for the board. Just what proportion of the time do nested quotes actually enhance the contextual understanding? Sometimes, surely. But _most_ of the time? Often enough to make it worthwhile to require everybody who doesn’t need nested quotes to strip them back out? _And_ to tolerate introduced errors when that is done imperfectly? Anyway, it looks like the [other thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=571708) on the matter is collecting complaints, so I’ll leave further discussion to that one. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/24 "2010-07-27T17:27:24Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > You didn’t make a mistake; but you were quoting someone who did make a mistake ( **Chefguy** ). Their mistake left their post having more opening quote tags than closing quote tags; their post had malformed code in it. And so, when you quoted their post, that malformed code became part of your post, and thus your post had problems as well (unfortunately, the design of vB code lets this happen; quoting improperly bracketed code can make your post improperly bracketed as well). But you didn’t make any mistake. You just happened to quote a post that was improperly coded by someone else. Oh sure, blame this shit on me. Like **I** know what the hell I’m doing. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/25 "2010-07-27T18:26:31Z")
Er, I think you’re being jokingly self-effacing, but in case I actually did offend you: I didn’t mean anything personal. It was just a dispassionate observation that you happened to be the one whose post introduced the coding mistake. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/26 "2010-07-27T21:07:41Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Yeah, alright… a lot of us like and in fact asked for the nested quotes (a return to the way the board originally behaved). I say give it time and people will learn not to remove text improperly. They say that about the Israelis and Palestinians learning to get along, too. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/27 "2010-07-28T02:31:18Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > > [@Indistinguishable](#): > > > > You didn’t make a mistake; but you were quoting someone who did make a mistake ( **Chefguy** ). Their mistake left their post having more opening quote tags than closing quote tags; their post had malformed code in it. And so, when you quoted their post, that malformed code became part of your post, and thus your post had problems as well (unfortunately, the design of vB code lets this happen; quoting improperly bracketed code can make your post improperly bracketed as well). But you didn’t make any mistake. You just happened to quote a post that was improperly coded by someone else. > > Oh sure, blame this shit on me. Like **I** know what the hell I’m doing. :dubious: I blame Bush. Or Obama. Depending on which day it is. But seriously, if we had nested quoting before and switched, there must have been a reason for switching in the first place. This problem of repeating others’ mistakes unwittingly I don’t see as progress either. I liked it just fine before. But then, I also like butter churning. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/28 "2010-07-28T03:02:09Z")
Can we kill this “feature”. Creates more opportunity for mistakes and creates more work when editing a quote. A step backward all around. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/29 "2010-07-28T03:05:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > But seriously, if we had nested quoting before and switched, there must have been a reason for switching in the first place. This problem of repeating others’ mistakes unwittingly I don’t see as progress either. I liked it just fine before. > > But then, I also like butter churning. Nested quoting was removed in a VB update. It wasn’t anyone here’s decision. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/30 "2010-07-28T03:06:45Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > > > But seriously, if we had nested quoting before and switched, there must have been a reason for switching in the first place. This problem of repeating others’ mistakes unwittingly I don’t see as progress either. I liked it just fine before. > > > > But then, I also like butter churning. > > Nested quoting was removed in a VB update. It wasn’t anyone here’s decision. A Ha! Then it really WAS The Man sticking it to the people. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/31 "2010-07-28T03:11:40Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > > [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > > > > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > > > > > But seriously, if we had nested quoting before and switched, there must have been a reason for switching in the first place. This problem of repeating others’ mistakes unwittingly I don’t see as progress either. I liked it just fine before. > > > > > > But then, I also like butter churning. > > > > Nested quoting was removed in a VB update. It wasn’t anyone here’s decision. > > A Ha! Then it really WAS The Man sticking it to the people. Ouch. Quit poking me! ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/32 "2010-07-28T16:01:42Z")
FWIW, [this is the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=571708) where (a) it was suggested how to easily re-enable nested quoting and (b) people are discussing how they feel about the change after it was implemented. A lot of us, including people who were positive or neutral about the idea before it was enabled, aren’t happy with it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/33 "2010-07-28T16:21:25Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Now, it’s the opposite; if you want to get rid of nested quotes, you have to manually remove them, and sometimes people fuck up the coding when doing so, because they’re not used to it yet. Part of the problem is that the quote tags all get munged into one line as follows: [QUOTE=Siam Sam;12734868][QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen;12734865] Stuff ITD said [/ QUOTE] Stuff Sam said [/ QUOTE] which means that if I’m editing in a hurry, and strip out ITD’s quote and the close quote, I might parse the beginning as [QUOTE blah blah blah blah] (that is, a single quote tag), strip out the close-quotes, and not notice that I’d accidentally blamed ITD for something that Sam said. Carriage returns after the [QUOTE] tags in the coding would go a ways toward eliminating the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/34 "2010-07-28T21:51:03Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Er, I think you’re being jokingly self-effacing, but in case I actually did offend you: I didn’t mean anything personal. It was just a dispassionate observation that you happened to be the one whose post introduced the coding mistake. Yeah, just a feeble attempt to be humorous at my own expense. Now, if you’d said “Hey dumbfuck, you don’t know dick about no quote shit”, I 'd maybe have been offended. But only about your grammar. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/35 "2010-07-28T21:55:42Z")
Yes, how dare anyone use a dialect that isn’t approved by rich white Americans… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/36 "2010-07-28T22:58:16Z")
What the hell are you nattering on about now? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/37 "2010-07-29T02:34:42Z")
Multi-quote – now THERE was a good innovation. Change is not always bad. But I feel the evil of nested quotes. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/38 "2010-07-29T03:32:21Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > The board worked this way for years and no one ever complained. I did. And I do again. And even for those who didn’t complain back in the day, it’s possible – dare I say even likely – because they didn’t know any better. Let’s see if I can dig up some of those old complaints. Here’s a good one, starting in [post 14](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8681318#post8681318) in a thread devoted to what we hate in other boards. It’s from 2007, meaning we had already come to understand the awesomeness of not nesting quotes by default. Note the conversation from [post 37](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8683937#post8683937) through 41. Sadly I can’t seem to find my older posts on the subject. I may not have been using the terms “nested” and “chained” at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/39 "2010-07-29T03:35:14Z")
Yeah, I was worried that my “no one” was too strong. ([Some mathematician I turned out to be](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12739114&postcount=50)). Fair enough. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/40 "2010-07-29T11:17:43Z")
I actually hate it so much that I created filter in Adblock to block the nested quotes until this is settled (or permanently if it isn’t). It seems to work better than getting angry and failing to convince anyone because I act like a dick, anyways. ETA: Here are the filter rules for Adblock Plus (the second is for the word “Quote:”): ```auto boards.straightdope.com##TD.alt2[style="border: 1px inset ;"] DIV.smallfont[style="margin-bottom: 2px;"] boards.straightdope.com##TD.alt2[style="border: 1px inset ;"] TD.alt2[style="border: 1px inset ;"] ``` [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139.md?page=3)