diff --git a/lisp/gnus/gnus-start.el b/lisp/gnus/gnus-start.el
index 2beb685822..606155d741 100644
--- a/lisp/gnus/gnus-start.el
+++ b/lisp/gnus/gnus-start.el
@@ -2146,14 +2146,14 @@ gnus-active-to-gnus-format
 	    (if (and (stringp (progn
 				(setq group (read cur)
 				      group
-				      (encode-coding-string
-				       (cond ((numberp group)
-					      (number-to-string group))
-					     ((symbolp group)
-					      (symbol-name group))
-					     ((stringp group)
-					      group))
-				       'latin-1))))
+				      (cond ((numberp group)
+					     (number-to-string group))
+					    ((symbolp group)
+					     (encode-coding-string
+					      (symbol-name group)
+					      'latin-1))
+					    ((stringp group)
+					     group)))))
 		     (numberp (setq max (read cur)))
 		     (numberp (setq min (read cur)))
 		     (null (progn