# Suggestion: let's fix my earlier terrible suggestion
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [July 28, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334 "2010-07-28T17:49:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/41 "2010-07-31T15:54:28Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> > [@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.
Replying to this for no reason other than to reply to it.
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> > [@NAF1138](#):
> >
> > Also, I trimmed your post down to something managable with really no difficulty and little thought.
>
> Try it in response to this post.
Okay.
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> > [@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.
>
> The point of my post was that if they added this new fix that Giraffe is proposing in this thread, your embedded quote […] would still lose meaning.
I hope twickster doesn’t spank me for altering text inside quote tags. I didn’t change the meaning though, just cut out some extra, unnecessary stuff. Actually, I think it’s allowed with the “[…]” added to show I cut some stuff mid-sentence, but I’m not entirely sure. In any case…
> [@NAF1138](#):
>
> Trimming out extraneous nested quotes isn’t really that hard.
Not for me because I’m in Mensa and I’ve been reading since I was a fetus and I taught myself Mozart’s entire library and I thought the SATs (perfect score, btw) were a freakin’ BREEZE.
Because I’m smart.
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> I think it’s much easier to trim out text than to strip out coding in a post.
I think they are about the same.
(And I, super genius that I am, forgot to use the multi-quote function in my previous post to quote the last bit of Roo’s post (also seen in this post), which is I was replying to when I said “stripping code” is the same as deleting text.)
---
### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/42 "2010-07-31T15:55:50Z")
It didn’t really take me seven minutes to do that. I have a 7 year old who has some serious “Mom, look at this. Mom, guess what? Mom, let’s do. Mom, can I have?” today. Even so, seven minutes isn’t all that unreasonable.
---
### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/43 "2010-07-31T15:59:08Z")
Gah! Was that post supposed to be an example of the kind of cool posts we can create with nested quoting? Because that looks incredibly ugly and is really hard to read. I would much rather read a series of stacked quotes, as demonstrated in the other thread on this topic.
---
### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/44 "2010-07-31T16:05:59Z")
Umm, no. That was in response to Roo’s challenge to NAF because he said that he could trim her posts down easily; she said “Try it with this post.” So I did. It wasn’t hard.
It’s not the prettiest thing in the world to look at but it’s possible (and easy, really) to do and, honestly, how often is something like that going to happen naturally? Most discussions will not need quotes from that far back in the conversation. Two level nested quotes are probably fine, I should think.
---
### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/45 "2010-07-31T16:07:43Z")
Oh, sorry, I missed that part.
Actually, if the admins were able to restrict nested quotes to two levels that would probably solve this issue, but if they’re unable/unwilling to do so, I really, really, really think that getting rid of nested quotes is the best solution.
---
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/46 "2010-07-31T18:45:11Z")
> [@Silver\_Fire](#):
>
> yes, I’m being a dick
I agree with this much of your post. 😉
---
### Author:  [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/47 "2010-07-31T21:16:21Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> > [@Silver\_Fire](#):
> >
> > yes, I’m being a dick
>
> I agree with this much of your post. 😉
I’m sure you’re kidding, Arnold, but I’d rather not see this thread degenerate into a slap party. Please dial it back a notch. No warning issued.
**Gfactor**
Administrator
---
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/48 "2010-08-01T15:11:09Z")
You’re right, my post was out of line. Sorry.
---
### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/49 "2010-08-01T16:12:34Z")
I really prefer having nested quotes. I find that non-nested quotes often produce incomprehensible or mistaken exchanges, when I lose track of what someone was saying because the quote isn’t there. For another, assembling nested quotes by hand is irritating which is what I’ve been doing for a long time.
---
### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/50 "2010-08-01T16:42:00Z")
Looking at the settings, we can limit the number of quotes that can be used with multi-quote. Would this help rein in the madness?
Currently it’s set to 0, it’s unlimited.
---
### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/51 "2010-08-01T16:56:51Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> Looking at the settings, we can limit the number of quotes that can be used with multi-quote. Would this help rein in the madness?
>
> Currently it’s set to 0, it’s unlimited.
I think that limiting the number of nesting levels to, say, two would be a great solution.
---
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/52 "2010-08-01T18:14:33Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> > [@TubaDiva](#):
> >
> > Looking at the settings, we can limit the number of quotes that can be used with multi-quote. Would this help rein in the madness?
> >
> > Currently it’s set to 0, it’s unlimited.
>
> I think that limiting the number of nesting levels to, say, two would be a great solution.
I think that the setting TubaDiva is talking about out would apply to multi-quotes (the built-in feature where you can click the “multi-quote” button for several posts), but would do nothing about nested quotes (the hack that xash put in.) I could be wrong.
---
### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/53 "2010-08-01T19:27:32Z")
Let’s try it and see – I can always put it back to 0 again if we’re wrong.
---
### Author:  [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/54 "2010-08-01T20:32:40Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> Looking at the settings, we can limit the number of quotes that can be used with multi-quote. Would this help rein in the madness?
Yes, but not as much as getting rid of nested quotes all together.
---
### Author:  [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/55 "2010-08-01T20:50:12Z")
Nesting is now limited to two.
- **xash**
---
### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/56 "2010-08-01T21:53:57Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> > [@MsWhatsit](#):
> >
> > I think that limiting the number of nesting levels to, say, two would be a great solution.
>
> I think that the setting TubaDiva is talking about out would apply to multi-quotes (the built-in feature where you can click the “multi-quote” button for several posts), but would do nothing about nested quotes (the hack that xash put in.) I could be wrong.
Just checking.
Cool, it eliminated Tuba’s bit of quote in Arnold’s post.
---
### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/57 "2010-08-01T22:02:11Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> Looking at the settings, we can limit the number of quotes that can be used with multi-quote. Would this help rein in the madness?
Probably not, because those using multi-quotes are sophisticated enough to appreciate the feature and smart enough to edit it.
---
### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/58 "2010-08-01T23:12:38Z")
Huzzah! Thanks, **xash**!
---
### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/59 "2010-08-02T06:27:43Z")
For this relief much thanks!
---
### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334/60 "2010-08-02T15:51:46Z")
Very cool. Thanks.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334.md?page=2)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-lets-fix-my-earlier-terrible-suggestion/548334.md?page=4)