"next" makes a nice conceptual pocket (yes, I've long since been reduced to making up arbitrary terms). It trims down on the amount of nested conditionals, takes up less space, and makes (if not easier reading) for easier explanation to a third party.

I'm not intending to debate the merits of the above snippets. Sure, they could be better optimized, use more community-approved idioms, etc. I'm proposing instead that it's OK to code to your audience, and to code with the intention of explaining your algorithms to a group of peers when time is at a premium.

When left to my own devices without a timetable, my code becomes the nested and over-golfed hoo-hah posted at the top...which I enjoy tremendously.

By the way, where are you proposing I use m// as opposed to what is already in place?