# Quoting quotes **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 12, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764 "2019-12-12T17:14:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/1 "2019-12-12T17:14:21Z")
Can you modify the Quote function so that embedded quotes are included in the quote? If I reply to a message by Quoting it, or select it for multiple quotes with the +, only text that the poster wrote is included. If that poster quoted another post in his own post, that embedded quote is not included. This creates a problem with creating the proper context for my own reply. I can manually add it, but why? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/2 "2019-12-12T17:17:20Z")
A few years ago, the admins turned on embedded quotes but some people managed to screw things up so posts were attributed incorrectly. (I can’t remember exactly how people managed to screw it up.) So that experiment ended. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/3 "2019-12-12T17:39:06Z")
Yes, some years ago we tried enabling embedded quotes. It got so many complaints and caused so much confusion we went back to the original way. I know that it’s somewhat annoying to have to manually add back in quoted posts, but most people concluded this was preferable to embedded quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/4 "2019-12-12T17:44:53Z")
If you, Dewey Finn had quoted the OP, and I grabbed that post, it would look like this. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > > > Can you modify the Quote function so that embedded quotes are included in the quote? > > > > If I reply to a message by Quoting it, or select it for multiple quotes with the +, only text that the poster wrote is included. If that poster quoted another post in his own post, that embedded quote is not included. This creates a problem with creating the proper context for my own reply. I can manually add it, but why? > > A few years ago, the admins turned on embedded quotes but some people managed to screw things up so posts were attributed incorrectly. (I can’t remember exactly how people managed to screw it up.) So that experiment ended. That same exact quote, with one quote tag missing would look like this… [quote=“Dewey\_Finn, post:2, topic:844764”] > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Can you modify the Quote function so that embedded quotes are included in the quote? > > If I reply to a message by Quoting it, or select it for multiple quotes with the +, only text that the poster wrote is included. If that poster quoted another post in his own post, that embedded quote is not included. This creates a problem with creating the proper context for my own reply. I can manually add it, but why? > > A few years ago, the admins turned on embedded quotes but some people managed to screw things up so posts were attributed incorrectly. (I can’t remember exactly how people managed to screw it up.) So that experiment ended. The last line, beginning with “A few years ago…” was written by Dewey Finn, Now CookingWithGas. Of course there’s umpteen other ways to screw it up which will each give you their own unique results, but this IIRC was a common one. Also, please excuse that I may have technically crossed the line into ‘altering quotes’, but I wanted a real example instead of a hypothetical one and no one had quoted anyone yet so I didn’t have anything to work with. Having said all that, you can, as you see here, still nest quotes, there’s just not a button to do it automatically. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/5 "2019-12-12T17:47:40Z")
[Here’s](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582220)the thread from 2010 announcing the discontinuation of nested quotes. I didn’t find the announcement for turning them on, but it seems to have been August 2010. Within a month people were complaining about them. The experiment lasted less than three months. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2019, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/6 "2019-12-12T18:52:33Z")
It’s easy enough to just use the multiquote button. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/7 "2019-12-12T19:29:26Z")
I don’t think multiquote works for nested quotes. It’s meant for quoting multiple posts. I suppose you can move things around to nest the quotes, but I just do it all manually. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/8 "2019-12-12T20:01:22Z")
Thanks for the response. I was a member then but somehow that escaped my attention. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/9 "2019-12-12T20:03:08Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That same exact quote, with one quote tag missing would look like this… Well, yeah, that happens if people start fucking with quotes, which I guess they do. Not sure why people would delete a tag. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/10 "2019-12-12T20:23:45Z")
A template: [noparse] > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Post most recent quote quoted > > Most recent quote [/noparse] Would look like > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Post most recent quote quoted > > Most recent quote ---
**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:** [December 12, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/11 "2019-12-12T20:45:49Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t think multiquote works for nested quotes. It’s meant for quoting multiple posts. I suppose you can move things around to nest the quotes, but I just do it all manually. I meant use it instead of nested quotes. I do it all the time. It goes like this: John Smith : Blah Blah Blah Mary Jones: {Quotes John Smith} Youre wrong because yadda yadda yadda Me : {quotes john smith}{quotes Mary Jones} You misunderstood the point, it’s waffe waffle waffle. No need to have johns’s quote nested inside mary’s. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/12 "2019-12-12T21:46:50Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Not sure why people would delete a tag. Carelessness, usually. This is why we can’t have nice things. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/13 "2019-12-12T22:03:36Z")
I’ve seen mangled quotes as a result of nested quotes being turned on, and I’ve also seen mangled quotes as a result of people attempting to work around them being turned off. I’m not sure which I’ve seen more of. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/14 "2019-12-12T23:18:21Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Well, yeah, that happens if people start fucking with quotes, which I guess they do. Not sure why people would delete a tag. Sometime people want to quote just part of a post. When doing that, it’s really easy to delete the last ] in the quote tag. I’ve done it a zillion times. I normally catch it when I preview, but not everyone previews all the time. And the one time you don’t is sure to be the time you screw up. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/15 "2019-12-13T00:56:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Here’s](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582220)the thread from 2010 announcing the discontinuation of nested quotes. > > I didn’t find the announcement for turning them on, but it seems to have been August 2010. Within a month people were complaining about them. The experiment lasted less than three months. I used them a fair bit and had a lot of luck with them – but if memory serves me right I also had some real problems how they were used by others. I remember giving up on the one debate because by post 30 and all the multiple quotes I had no idea just what the heck was being talked about at that point. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/16 "2019-12-13T01:05:55Z")
Yeah, that, too. A whole bunch of quote sandwiches can make a thread unreadable. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/17 "2019-12-13T02:55:53Z")
Looks like being the smartest, hippest people on the internet didn’t turn out to be that high of a bar to clear… ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2019, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/18 "2019-12-13T05:20:18Z")
Even the smartest, hippest people can make misteaks. 😃 ---
**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:** [December 13, 2019, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quoting-quotes/844764/19 "2019-12-13T06:13:10Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Even the smartest, hippest people can make misteaks. 😃 As can you. 😉