### Author:  [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/21 "2010-07-29T17:03:21Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> > [@NAF1138](#):
> >
> > Giraffe, I wonder…Why is it that nested quotes are awesome on your board and suck over here?
>
> Mostly because it’s not true. Here’s a [complaint thread](http://www.giraffeboards.com/showthread.php?t=14097) with a bunch of negative comments about nested quoting on Giraffe Boards.
That thread was started after my post. It doesn’t count. Also, I trimmed your post down to something managable with really no difficulty and little thought. Thirdly, see how much worse this post of mine would be without the nested quote.
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> Mostly because it’s not true. Here’s a [complaint thread](http://www.giraffeboards.com/showthread.php?t=14097) with a bunch of negative comments about nested quoting on Giraffe Boards.
No context at all. Sure, I could click the button to find out what you were talking about, but in today’s fast paced world who has that kind of time, especially when you can just see what people are talking about in the thread.
I understand why people are annoyed with the nested quotes, but I really think that it’s because we haven’t given them enough time for people to get used to them and start using them appropriately.
Lastly, to all the people who aren’t trimming your quotes and are pissed because now you have to trim them with the nested quotes, you were doing it wrong all along. 80% of all quotes (at least for me) need to be trimmed down to what is relevant. Trimming out extraneous nested quotes isn’t really that hard.
Ok, I will get off my soapbox now.
---
### Author:  [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/22 "2010-07-29T17:05:17Z")
I don’t want to edit that last post because I don’t want people to think I had to go in and futz with the coding, but mentally insert a couple of smilies into it so that the tone is rather on the lighthearted side. I don’t want people thinking that I am taking this too seriously.
---
### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/23 "2010-07-29T17:17:33Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> Not only does your new proposed solution not fix the problem of having to strip out embedded quote material for most people, it also doesn’t adequately solve the problem you originally claimed was the reason that you wanted nested quoting, except for the one situation you described.
>
> Here’s the issue you claimed was the problem:
>
> \
>
> At two levels of nesting (which is what you’re testing at Giraffe Boards), you might be able to tell who poster A is disagreeing with, but then anyone who answered poster B would have the same problem.
Ah, so you think two levels of nesting isn’t enough to maintain clarity in subsequent quotes? Fair enough, but I disagree.
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo]
The more elegant way to solve the problem is to go back to stripped quoting and use the mult-quote function, which is largely made useless by nested quoting.
[/QUOTE]
Ah, so you think two levels of nesting is too many, and it would be better if people simply used the multiquote function instead? Fair enough, but I disagree.
[QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo]
> [@twickster](#):
>
> Guess what – it’s not **Giraffe** ’s decision to make. Here, at least.
::copying out to my gratitude journal::
[/QUOTE]
Ah, so you think I have bad judgment and shouldn’t be listened to on issues such as this. Fair enough, but I disagree.
---
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/24 "2010-07-29T17:33:34Z")
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> Lastly, to all the people who aren’t trimming your quotes and are pissed because now you have to trim them with the nested quotes, you were doing it wrong all along. 80% of all quotes (at least for me) need to be trimmed down to what is relevant.
I _do_ trim down 80% of my quotes now. With the change, I have to do more work, and (this is the key for me) for very little benefit. The balance weighs heavily toward the elimination nested quotes.
---
### Author:  [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/25 "2010-07-29T17:40:50Z")
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> No context at all. Sure, I could click the button to find out what you were talking about, but in today’s fast paced world who has that kind of time, especially when you can just see what people are talking about in the thread.
Let me save you the time. The OP and two others (including Roo) were complaining; the rest were joke posts.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/26 "2010-07-29T17:41:36Z")
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> > [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
> >
> > > [@NAF1138](#):
> > >
> > > Giraffe, I wonder…Why is it that nested quotes are awesome on your board and suck over here?
> >
> > Mostly because it’s not true. Here’s a [complaint thread](http://www.giraffeboards.com/showthread.php?t=14097) with a bunch of negative comments about nested quoting on Giraffe Boards.
>
> That thread was started after my post. It doesn’t count.
The time stamps show that the complaint thread was started 2 hours before your post. I’m not copying them out since they would be different for everyone, but the relative times should be the same. Are your time stamps showing something different?
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> Also, I trimmed your post down to something managable with really no difficulty and little thought.
Yes, but it gets more difficult, and more messy, with each iteration. My comments were relatively short, and I trimmed a lot before I responded. Try it in response to this post.
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> Thirdly, see how much worse this post of mine would be without the nested quote.
>
> > [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
> >
> > Mostly because it’s not true. Here’s a [complaint thread](http://www.giraffeboards.com/showthread.php?t=14097) with a bunch of negative comments about nested quoting on Giraffe Boards.
>
> No context at all. Sure, I could click the button to find out what you were talking about, but in today’s fast paced world who has that kind of time, especially when you can just see what people are talking about in the thread.
The point of my post was that if they added this new fix that Giraffe is proposing in this thread, your embedded quote in the example you gave above (the first embedded quote in this post) would disappear since it’s more than 2 levels deep and would still lose meaning.
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> I understand why people are annoyed with the nested quotes, but I really think that it’s because we haven’t given them enough time for people to get used to them and start using them appropriately.
>
> Lastly, to all the people who aren’t trimming your quotes and are pissed because now you have to trim them with the nested quotes, you were doing it wrong all along. 80% of all quotes (at least for me) need to be trimmed down to what is relevant. Trimming out extraneous nested quotes isn’t really that hard.
>
> Ok, I will get off my soapbox now.
If you read the other thread thread about nested quoting, there are some people who have complained about it when it was in use for a long time before.
I think it’s much easier to trim out text than to strip out coding in a post.
---
### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/27 "2010-07-29T18:59:36Z")
If there could just be some way to rejigger it so that a space is inserted between/after/before the quote bracket, that would make selecting text for deletion LOADS easier.
---
### Author:  [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/28 "2010-07-29T19:06:11Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> Guess what – it’s not **Giraffe** ’s decision to make. Here, at least. There, it is.
Wow, touchy much?
---
### Author:  [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/29 "2010-07-29T21:19:59Z")
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> > [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
> >
> > > [@NAF1138](#):
> > >
> > > Giraffe, I wonder…Why is it that nested quotes are awesome on your board and suck over here?
> >
> > Mostly because it’s not true. Here’s a [complaint thread](http://www.giraffeboards.com/showthread.php?t=14097) with a bunch of negative comments about nested quoting on Giraffe Boards.
>
> That thread was started after my post. It doesn’t count. Also, I trimmed your post down to something managable with really no difficulty and little thought. Thirdly, see how much worse this post of mine would be without the nested quote.
>
> > [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
> >
> > Mostly because it’s not true. Here’s a [complaint thread](http://www.giraffeboards.com/showthread.php?t=14097) with a bunch of negative comments about nested quoting on Giraffe Boards.
>
> No context at all. Sure, I could click the button to find out what you were talking about, but in today’s fast paced world who has that kind of time, especially when you can just see what people are talking about in the thread.
>
> I understand why people are annoyed with the nested quotes, but I really think that it’s because we haven’t given them enough time for people to get used to them and start using them appropriately.
>
> Lastly, to all the people who aren’t trimming your quotes and are pissed because now you have to trim them with the nested quotes, you were doing it wrong all along. 80% of all quotes (at least for me) need to be trimmed down to what is relevant. Trimming out extraneous nested quotes isn’t really that hard.
>
> Ok, I will get off my soapbox now.
I disagree completely, and actually feel that you make my point for me.
You speak of context? What does that say of our level of intelligence? There isnt a person here who wouldnt have known what you were referring to, with Heffalumps post the only one quoted. You do realise almost everybody would have read the full thread up till that point. Nobody needed context, they already knew it.
You were replying to Heffalump, who had earlier replied to your post. We know this. We are not idiots, we can associate posts and discussions you know. You may say that in multipage threads points may get lost in the clutter, but in my mind that is definitely a lesser evil, one that certainly isnt worth the mess in my compose message box when trying to reply to particular people.
---
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/30 "2010-07-29T22:02:16Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#):
>
> I disagree completely, and actually feel that you make my point for me.
>
> You speak of context? What does that say of our level of intelligence? There isnt a person here who wouldnt have known what you were referring to, with Heffalumps post the only one quoted. You do realise almost everybody would have read the full thread up till that point. Nobody needed context, they already knew it.
>
> You were replying to Heffalump, who had earlier replied to your post. We know this. We are not idiots, we can associate posts and discussions you know. You may say that in multipage threads points may get lost in the clutter, but in my mind that is definitely a lesser evil, one that certainly isnt worth the mess in my compose message box when trying to reply to particular people.
Cutting out the extraneous clutter in a nested post is trivial, far easier and quicker than scooping up relevant posts to manually feather the nest.
I agree the practice would be easier if there was space around the inside quotes. I think this is how it was before Vb broke it.
The increase in nested quotes seems to be a product of mild novelty–not everyone knows they’re back and it takes a bit to adjust to. There’s also some petulant protestation spilling out from ATMB to other forums.
To repeat an earlier question (or maybe it’s in one of the other four near-identical threads), can someone link to complaints about nested quotes before Vb broke the function? A series of threads that were unreadable beforehand?
---
### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/31 "2010-07-29T23:24:03Z")
Halp, halp, we’re drowning in nested quotes! Save us! Won’t someone think of the teeming millions?!
Incidentally, I never complained about nested quotes before because when we had them previously I had no idea that it was optional. It was annoying but I figured we were stuck with it.
---
### Author:  [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/32 "2010-07-30T02:00:43Z")
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> No context at all. Sure, I could click the button to find out what you were talking about, but in today’s fast paced world who has that kind of time, especially when you can just see what people are talking about in the thread.
Sure, the context helps. But you can get context with the multi-quote button. Plus, I don’t think full context is needed on every quote. I think it’s probably a minority of quotes that need it. On quotes that don’t need context, you’re forcing a lot of editing that can be tricky given the coding.
> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> Cutting out the extraneous clutter in a nested post is trivial, far easier and quicker than scooping up relevant posts to manually feather the nest.
Boy do I disagree. Trimming the extraneous clutter is a huge pain. Figuring out the coding is a drag. Scooping up the relevant posts is what’s trivial. Click on the multi-quote button. With the bonus of leaving you with far easier editing. And the multi, non-nested, quotes tend to be easier to follow than anything more complex than a couple levels of properly edited nested quotes.
Nester quotes harder on the writer and (mostly) harder on the reader (well, this reader). My vote is still no.
---
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/33 "2010-07-30T05:06:41Z")
I’m going to have to vote no on the nested quotes, too - it’s getting very cluttery and hard to keep track of, as well as being a pain to trim trim trim.
---
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/34 "2010-07-30T06:03:38Z")
Ay-yi-yi, stop the [madness!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12743688&postcount=40)
---
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/35 "2010-07-30T18:51:19Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> To repeat an earlier question (or maybe it’s in one of the other four near-identical threads), can someone link to complaints about nested quotes before Vb broke the function? A series of threads that were unreadable beforehand?
I’ll repeat my earlier answer, that was also in one of the other threads. Back when we had nested quoting, there were people complaining, though IIRC the complaining was more about overquoting than specifically nested quoting. However, with nested quoting, the overquoting problem is compounded.
I couldn’t even think of what search terms to use to find links to the right threads. Perhaps searching for the words “quote” and “rage” in the BBQ Pit would be a good starting point? 🙂
---
### Author:  [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/36 "2010-07-30T20:29:19Z")
I didn’t have an opinion when all this started. Now I do. Automatic nested quotes are awful. I vote to change it back. Ugh.
---
### Author:  [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/37 "2010-07-30T21:05:21Z")
[thread=572736] There a big one brewing up over in Cafe Society[/thread]
---
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/38 "2010-07-31T03:09:50Z")
Whao - trippy!
---
### Author:  [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/39 "2010-07-31T04:11:01Z")
> [@Giraffe](#):
>
> Luckily, I have found a way to undo the damage this warty and unattractive poster has caused: a [vBulletin mod](http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=148372) that is trivially easy to install and allows one to set a limit on the nest level.
This [was my idea](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12733937&postcount=130)\* and I take full credit for it\*\*.
\*[Not really](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12732665&postcount=115)
\*\*Or I would if I were the one who actually knew how to code it
> [@Yookeroo](#):
>
> Boy do I disagree. Trimming the extraneous clutter is a huge pain. Figuring out the coding is a drag. Scooping up the relevant posts is what’s trivial. Click on the multi-quote button. With the bonus of leaving you with far easier editing. And the multi, non-nested, quotes tend to be easier to follow than anything more complex than a couple levels of properly edited nested quotes.
No, multi-quote is for responding to two or more unrelated posts. As demonstrated. _takes a bow_
---
### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/40 "2010-07-31T15:47:20Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> > [@Giraffe](#):
> >
> > Luckily, I have found a way to undo the damage this warty and unattractive poster has caused:
> >
> > Here’s how to do it:
> >
> > 1. Undo the previous change to includes/functions.php (just remove the return $text; line).
>
> I agree with this much of your post. 😉
Guess what – it’s not your decision to make. Get your own board. :rolleyes:
(yes, I’m being a dick re: twickster’s seemingly unreasonably bitchy reply to a question she misread in the first place)
I love the “But nested quotes are SOOOO HARD!” complaints on the same board where there have been dozens of “Look at me, I’m a Mensa member!” and “I could read college level in second grade!” and “Let’s compare IQ scores!” and “I invented the internet!” and whatever else threads.
I don’t get how deleting text is somehow easier than “stripping code” (which is really just deleting text, btw). If you don’t want to quote something, take out all the stuff between the {QUOTE=User Name;post number} and {/QUOTE}. With nested quotes, you just kind of work from the inside out, and it’s not as difficult as some people (not necessarily you, Roo, but in general) are making it seem. I’ll respond to your challenge post in just a second.
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