# Nested mouseover notes can be entered but not shown
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/nested-mouseover-notes-can-be-entered-but-not-shown/406501
**Category:** UX
**Tags:** footnote, fixed
**Created:** [July 1, 2026, 12:03am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nested-mouseover-notes-can-be-entered-but-not-shown/406501 "2026-07-01T00:03:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dreieck](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dreieck)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2026, 12:03am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nested-mouseover-notes-can-be-entered-but-not-shown/406501/1 "2026-07-01T00:03:46Z")
Ahoj,
Discourse can do nested mouseover notes:
```markdown
Hier ein Text^[eine Mouseover-Note^[eine Mouseover-Mouseover-Note].]
```
This is rendered as
> Hier ein Text\[1\]
When I go with the mouse on the “[1]”, I get a popup with the text “_eine Mouseover-Note[1]_”. The “[1]” within that popup is rendered in blue as well, but when I move the mouse on that the information hidden behind it is not shown.
I think this is a usability bug, because it suggests to the writing person that nested mouseover notes work, but in the end one is not able to reach the information behind the nested note.
Suggestions to solve it from a usability perspective:
- Make it such that nested mouseover notes are actually showing their content, or:
- Do not allow nesting – so that
Regards!
* * *
1. eine Mouseover-Note\[1\].
2. eine Mouseover-Note^[eine Mouseover-Mouseover-Note].
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2026, 6:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nested-mouseover-notes-can-be-entered-but-not-shown/406501/3 "2026-07-02T18:12:37Z")
Hello @dreieck and thank you for that well written report.
Unfortunately both your suggestions were not only quite difficult to implement, but also may lead to a box-of-pandora infinite-nesting type situation. In my opinion, nested footnotes are suboptimal UX-wise and should not be allowed.
So I’ve opted for a third route, which is to strip away any nested footnotes.
>
>
> Nested footnotes do not work, but still render as if they do.
> This commit strip…s out any nested footnotes, and pretends they aren't there.
>
> | Then | Now |
> |--------|--------|
> | \
| \
|
>
> Also deleted old CSS to hide the \`footnote-backref \`, since these are no longer rendered in the inline-footnote at all.
I know this may not be what you hoped for, but it at least addresses the bug of pretending it works while it doesn’t.
If you’re convinced this functionality is worthwhile having, I’d recommend adding your vote to [this existing feature request](https://meta.discourse.org/t/i-cannot-create-footnote-inception-and-it-makes-me-sad/211051), asking the same thing.
---
### Author:  [@dreieck](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dreieck)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nested-mouseover-notes-can-be-entered-but-not-shown/406501/5 "2026-07-02T18:53:12Z")
Ahoj,
to understand:
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> Unfortunately both your suggestions were not only quite difficult to implement, but also may lead to a box-of-pandora infinite-nesting type situation.
Why is my second suggestion (to not interpret a nested note but just print verbatim) more a problem than the suggestion in the [pull request you linked](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/41325) (strip away any nested notes)?
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nested-mouseover-notes-can-be-entered-but-not-shown/406501/6 "2026-07-02T18:57:19Z")
It was technically more difficult to do, and as I said, I do not think it’s good UX to begin with. At that point, why not just put everything in one note if they’ll get pasted together anyway?
---
### Author:  [@dreieck](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dreieck)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nested-mouseover-notes-can-be-entered-but-not-shown/406501/7 "2026-07-02T19:42:28Z")
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> It was technically more difficult to do
OK!,
> [@chapoi](#):
>
> At that point, why not just put everything in one note if they’ll get pasted together anyway?
I was mainly thinking of people who _just do that blindly_ without looking at the rendered result.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/nested-mouseover-notes-can-be-entered-but-not-shown/406501/8 "2026-07-06T13:19:06Z")