# Why is this happening? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 15, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376 "2011-09-15T05:44:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376/1 "2011-09-15T05:44:39Z")
Okay, hopefully I’ll at least be able to post this so people can see it. In another thread, I posted this message: [noparse]North American rivers of the Arctic Watershed, with links. 1. [Nelson River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_River) 2. [Mackenzie River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River) 3. [Nanook River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_River) 4. [Hornaday River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornaday_River) 5. [Colville River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colville_River_(Alaska))[/noparse] And it appears like this: North American rivers of the Arctic Watershed, with links. 1. [Nelson River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_River) 2. [Mackenzie River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River) 3. [Nanook River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_River) 4. [Hornaday River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornaday_River) 5. [Colville River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colville_River_(Alaska)) Any ideas why it’s making the fourth line disappear and then renumbering the list? Is it the ancient Hornaday River Curse? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376/2 "2011-09-15T05:48:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Okay, hopefully I’ll at least be able to post this so people can see it. > > In another thread, I posted this message: > > [noparse]North American rivers of the Arctic Watershed, with links. > > 1. [Nelson River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_River) > 2. [Mackenzie River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River) > 3. [Nanook River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_River) > 4. [Hornaday River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornaday_River) > 5. [Colville River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colville_River_(Alaska))[/noparse] > > And it appears like this: > > North American rivers of the Arctic Watershed, with links. > > 1. [Nelson River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_River) > 2. [Mackenzie River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River) > 3. [Nanook River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_River) > 4. [Hornaday%20River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornaday_River)%3Cbr%20/%3E%0A5.%20Colville River > > Any ideas why it’s making the fourth line disappear and then renumbering the list? > > Is it the ancient Hornaday River Curse? The ending “/URL” is in upper case only on the line that is missing. And the beginning “URL” of the next line is the only one in upper case. I’m not sure why that should make a difference but its a likely starting point in the investigation. But I never did trust that old Hornaday River. ETA: Oh, there is no closing quotation mark after the link to Hornaday River. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376/3 "2011-09-15T05:51:03Z")
North American rivers of the Arctic Watershed, with links. 1. [Nelson River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_River) 2. [Mackenzie River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River) 3. [Nanook River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_River) 4. [Hornaday River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornaday_River) 5. [Colville River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colville_River_(Alaska)) eta: No, that wasn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376/4 "2011-09-15T05:52:14Z")
North American rivers of the Arctic Watershed, with links. 1. [Nelson River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_River) 2. [Mackenzie River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River) 3. [Nanook River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_River) 4. [Hornaday River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornaday_River) 5. [Colville River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colville_River_(Alaska)) eta: That was it. It was the missing quotation mark. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376/5 "2011-09-15T13:40:59Z")
Gather ‘round, lil quote marks, and I’ll tell you the story of **Little Nemo** ’s Punctuation trip down the ol’ Hornaday river … the river that _swallows code_! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376/6 "2011-09-15T14:24:58Z")
You can leave off the quotation marks altogether. North American rivers of the Arctic Watershed, with links. 1. [Nelson River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_River) 2. [Mackenzie River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River) 3. [Nanook River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_River) 4. [Hornaday River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornaday_River) 5. [Colville River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colville_River_(Alaska)) ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376/7 "2011-09-15T16:55:31Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > You can leave off the quotation marks altogether. > > North American rivers of the Arctic Watershed, with links. > > 1. [Nelson River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_River) > 2. [Mackenzie River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River) > 3. [Nanook River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanook_River) > 4. [Hornaday River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornaday_River) > 5. [Colville River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colville_River_(Alaska)) IIRC you need the quotation marks if the URL link contains spaces, but not if it doesn’t, as in the example list. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-happening/596376/8 "2011-09-16T04:44:07Z")
Huh. I was going to guess a missing ] because a missing \> swallows code the same way in html.