lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm | 7 +------

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm
index ba31f4322ae851c23a65fdfe6e96c0a42f28b601..2e7b79a0faaaa0d685b98272983114013a47532b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchThread.pm
@@ -203,7 +203,6 @@ sub order_children {
 	my ($walk, $ordersub) = @_;
 
 	my %seen;
-	my $depth = 0;
 	my @visited;
 	while ($walk) {
 		push @visited, $walk;
@@ -222,17 +221,13 @@ 			$walk->{next} = $next = undef;
 		}
 
 		# go down, or across
-		if ($child) {
-			$next = $child;
-			++$depth;
-		}
+		$next = $child if $child;
 
 		# no next?  look up
 		if (!$next) {
 			my $up = $walk;
 			while ($up && !$next) {
 				$up = $up->{parent};
-				--$depth;
 				$next = $up->{next} if $up;
 			}
 		}