--- gnus-cite.el~	2007-01-24 07:12:47 +0000
+++ gnus-cite.el	2007-02-07 01:42:02 +0000
@@ -1126,10 +1126,12 @@
 				     "\\)"))
 			   limit t)
     (let ((cdepth
+	   (min
 	   (length (apply 'concat
 			  (split-string
 			   (match-string-no-properties 0)
-			   "[ \t [:alnum:]]+"))))
+			   "[ \t [:alnum:]]+")))
+	   gnus-message-max-citation-depth))
 	  (mlist (make-list (* (1+ gnus-message-max-citation-depth)
 			       2)
 			    0)))