# Suggestion: restore nested quoting **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 22, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536 "2010-07-22T00:47:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [July 26, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/101 "2010-07-26T17:23:25Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **twickster** said: > > > [@](#): > > > > Despite his lack of title, however, he was in this particular instance functioning as a member of the staff. For that reason, I still think this forum is the correct place to have this discussion. > > No argument. The thing is, the thread wasn’t really a pitting of **xash** in the first place. **BigT** mentioned **xash** only in passing, to give an excuse for starting the thread in the Pit. **Xash** didn’t implement the change unilaterally, but only after discussion among the administration. **BigT** was really just complaining about a board change he disagreed with; and such complaints go here. ---
**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 26, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/102 "2010-07-26T20:56:07Z")
I’d on rare occasions been annoyed by the lack of automatic nesting quotes here. I take that back now. Automatic nesting quotes are \*much \*more annoying. > [@twickster](#): > > Ugh. I don’t like it – I’m spending way more time stripping out quotes I don’t want than I ever did adding in quotes I wanted. Same here. Almost \*every single post \*I’m replying to has an earlier quote I have to strip out, versus the rare times previously where I really wanted a nesting quote. > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > **Cutting out unwanted material is an order of magnitude easier than collecting un-nested quotes** Cutting out unwanted material is sometimes easier. But it’s also happening _much more frequently_. I notice I’m also having problems seeing–in tagged versus formatted text (i.e., a composition window)–where quotes for particular people begin and end, which can make it a bit of an effort to ensure that I’m cropping things so that they’re being attributed correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/103 "2010-07-27T02:15:28Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > For the record Xash does not have time with his new job to read for moderation and handle everyday admin tasks, so he’s no longer a day to day administrator. :smack: I thought he was still an admin of some stripe. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/104 "2010-07-27T02:52:08Z")
Note==this is a personal opinion I agree with **twix** (and others). I hate nested quoting. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/105 "2010-07-27T03:12:58Z")
My fear is of those who quote an entire two-screen screed then add just a single line response. Now that could get exponentially worse. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/106 "2010-07-27T11:57:41Z")
I’ve changed from wanting it when it was first mentioned, to being neutral on it. One win, where I didn’t have to work to make a nested quote. One loss, where I had to work at cutting out the irrelevant stuff. Let’s see which is the worst amount of work, and then decide which way to complain… ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/107 "2010-07-27T14:22:36Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Note==this is a personal opinion > > I agree with **twix** (and others). I hate nested quoting. Wholeheartedly agreed. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/108 "2010-07-27T14:33:12Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I’d on rare occasions been annoyed by the lack of automatic nesting quotes here. I take that back now. Automatic nesting quotes are \*much \*more annoying. Seconded. This has become insanely annoying. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/109 "2010-07-27T14:37:26Z")
Thumbs down on nested quotes. Threads with multiple nested-quote posts are confusing as hell to read. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/110 "2010-07-27T15:44:18Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Let’s see which is the worst amount of work, and then decide which way to complain… But rest assured, there will be complaining! Rabble rabble rabble. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/111 "2010-07-27T16:07:45Z")
I wanted nested quotes for a long time, because it’s something that’s a pain to do manually. But you don’t always want a nested quote, so in a perfect world, there would be two quote buttons; one for a single quote, and the other for a nested quote. (Perhaps the later versions of vBulletin allow this?) ---
**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, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/112 "2010-07-27T16:16:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I wanted nested quotes for a long time, because it’s something that’s a pain to do manually. But you don’t always want a nested quote, so in a perfect world, there would be two quote buttons; one for a single quote, and the other for a nested quote. (Perhaps the later versions of vBulletin allow this?) I agree, this would be ideal. How hard would it be to add this to the code? ---
**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, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/113 "2010-07-27T16:18:25Z")
Maybe this should be up for a vote. ---
**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, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/114 "2010-07-27T16:29:48Z")
> [@Quote Boxes Screwing Up](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-boxes-screwing-up/548139/22): > > 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. That doesn’t mean it will be _better_ though. As with many changes, some people will like it, some will put up with it, some won’t put up with it. The question should be, what makes most sense, not for _you_ (meaning any particular poster), but for the best operation of the board as a whole. What system is most conducive to letting conversation flow naturally, versus getting tangled up in editing mechanics. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/115 "2010-07-27T17:39:07Z")
As I said at the beginning of the year, > [@Where can I find how to use the multiquote feature?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-how-to-use-the-multiquote-feature/526054/9): > > I’ve seen message boards with nested quoting enabled. > Every post in the thread becomes a quoting of every post in the thread, > 1 > 1[sub]2[/sub] > 1[sub]2[sub]3[/sub][/sub] > 1[sub]2[sub]3[sub]4[/sub][/sub][/sub] > 1[sub]2[sub]3[sub]4[sub]5[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub] > 1[sub]2[sub]3[sub]4[sub]5[sub]6[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub] > 1[sub]2[sub]3[sub]4[sub]5[sub]6[sub]7[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub] > etc. > > It is better this {the now old} way![RIGHT]{DarkRed}= **CMC** [/RIGHT] While I’d love to hope that everyone could get up to speed with their vB coding skills, I’ve seen enough bad hand coding to know it’s hopeless. (If folks can’t get \*bold right, even when there’s a button to do it for them, more complicated coding ain’t gonna happen! :() Couple of questions (the answers to, I’m betting, are “It’s possible, but it requires an real hack to the boards code.”); It appears to me the major objection to nested quotes is the way they get coded. Not clearly seeing where who’s quotes begin and end, and the way they display (the “thread tunnel” thing). I’m guessing that adding an extra button for nested quoting isn’t a possibility? Is there a way to limit the nesting depth, shorten the tunnels. Is it possible to change the way the multi-quote function works? Instead of the multi-quote appearing in the order they were clicked have them appear in the order they were posted? Nested quoting with no nesting, by hand. Is there a way strip out only poster quotes tags ({QUOTE=xxxxx;########}) while leaving regular quote tags ({QUOTE}) alone? This would end the problem of losing quoted material within a post, no more having to copy and paste. (This is the one feature of nested quoting that I’m pretty sure would be universally seen as a keeper.) CMC fnord! BTW I’m quite proud of my vB coding skillz and I fucked up a nested quote earlier. I had to replace the {QUOTE=xxxxx;########} post number into a different post in a different tab to figure out where my bad delete was. If those of us that know this kinda stuff (thanks Mangetout), [ > [@](#): > > [del]red text with black strikethrough[/del] > [del]red text with red strikethrough[/del] > [del][COLOR=Black]Black text with red strikethrough[/del][/COLOR] > [del][COLOR=Red]red text with blue strikethrough[/del][/COLOR] > [COLOR=Blue][del][COLOR=Red]red text with blue strikethrough, underlined in green[/del][/COLOR][/COLOR] ]([testing colours - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=443169)) is possible can still have problems, then … ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/116 "2010-07-27T18:09:59Z")
I think the nested quote feature had a lot more utility when the software didn’t support multi-quote. Now, with multi-quote enabled, not so much. ---
**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, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/117 "2010-07-27T18:32:49Z")
You still have to go back through hunting for all the posts you intend to multiquote. Plus, sometimes, you _want_ the nested layout, so, again, you have to fiddle around cutting and pasting all those posts’ code back into the appropriate location. I think having multiquoting preserve nested quotes and default-quoting strip them might be the best compromise within the framework of the current interface. (Then I’d just multiquote a single post whenever I wanted to keep the nested quotes…) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/118 "2010-07-27T18:50:15Z")
> [@zut](#): > > I think the nested quote feature had a lot more utility when the software didn’t support multi-quote. Now, with multi-quote enabled, not so much. That’s the way I feel. Also, since a quote now includes a link to the previous post, you can easily found the previous one if you intend to multi-quote. After seeing it in action for a while, I am of the same opinion - if there is only one method available, it should be the “remove nested quotes” method. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/119 "2010-07-27T18:53:42Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > You still have to go back through hunting for all the posts you intend to multiquote. That’s what the blue arrow is for next to the “Originally posted by xxx” text. > [@](#): > > Plus, sometimes, you _want_ the nested layout, so, again, you have to fiddle around cutting and pasting all those posts’ code back into the appropriate location. Well, in my case, most of the times I don’t want the nested layout, so the timesaver for me is to not have it all the time. If someone wants nested quotes occasionally, he (or she) can code it. > [@](#): > > I think having multiquoting preserve nested quotes and default-quoting strip them might be the best compromise within the framework of the current interface. (Then I’d just multiquote a single post whenever I wanted to keep the nested quotes…) This definitely sounds like a hack, not a simple one-line change. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536/120 "2010-07-27T19:09:34Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > That’s what the blue arrow is for next to the “Originally posted by xxx” text. That doesn’t work when a the poster isn’t included in the [QUOTE= block or the poster included other parts of multiple posts. Nor does it work if the material isn’t part of a SDMB post. Nor does it help there are two posters you need to refer to–clicking the blue box takes you to a single post. On slower or memory-limited machines, opening multiple tabs can be problematic. I do think there’s a difference between this fix and the original quoting display – here it runs the entire quoted post together. IIRC, when you got to the Reply to Thread screen the nested quotes were separated a bit so editing down was easier. Other than that, posting is identical to how it was before Vb broke functionality. Where are the problem threads, the super-quoted and unreadable threads from before that time? ETA another oddity: When you quote something with nested quotes in it, the WYSIWYG editor _almost_ adds complete clarity to what you’re doing. There are spaces, but in my quick experiment (done during the edit window), it didn’t seem to get them all. I don’t think it got quotes quite right in the first place, though, so this may just be an extension of that problem. But if it works, it could be an answer to the too-crowded complaints when replying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestion-restore-nested-quoting/547536.md?page=7)