Link Breaking

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
The forum will automatically link hyperlinks, and these can be tracked back to Saverocity via analytics software.

For example, you find a Credit Union that accepts Credit Card deposits of $30,000, link it here, people click, the CU will get a lot more online traffic, and someone may be alerted to the site. Anything in Level 2 will result in an error page for them, but it is best avoided regardless. Level 1 stuff doesn't matter.

Furthermore, and I know this might get complicated for some... not all Level 2 links need to be broken. For example, if you link from here to say, @Free-quent Flyer blog on a topic - it isn't a problem (unless you call him names as he will know about it, and hunt you down) so it is something of a discretionary thing.

Just think about what you are posting, and why. As to how to break the links, I deleted a resource on this as it was confusing, here is the easiest way to break a link:

Hit Insert>Code and copy the link into the box. It will show up in full so people can copy/paste it to browsers without having to re-edit everything, but won't hyperlink:

Code:
http://saverocity.com
The insert button is on the toolbar you can see it expanded below:

Screen Shot 2014-12-28 at 5.11.48 PM.png Screen Shot 2014-12-28 at 5.12.02 PM.png


I'm going for the 'use your common sense' approach here, what could possibly go wrong? :)
 
Last edited:

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
I'm going for the 'use your common sense' approach here, what could possibly go wrong? :)
Um...the fact that common sense is not always common? And, I never realized that you are "member 1". That's pretty cool.
 

thorax

Level 90 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Warlock
Did you happen to look at the mod I suggested a while back that would do this automatically?
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Did you happen to look at the mod I suggested a while back that would do this automatically?
Not yet. There's a lot going on behind the scenes here right now so any new mod requires a fair amount of checking, and I've not had chance. This works for me for now.
 

thorax

Level 90 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Warlock
IIRC, you were on vacation when we were talking about it and it was kinda ancillary. Wasn't sure if you even remembered. ;)
 

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
IIRC, you were on vacation when we were talking about it and it was kinda ancillary. Wasn't sure if you even remembered. ;)
Yep, and I've moved house and wrapped up 2 semesters of CFP since then :) It's still not super high on my list to be frank, though I do appreciate the research and will get to it.
 

zceuxbhjutf

Panel 3 Member
It's wonderful that folks post links and also wonderful that they break the ones that need to be broken (many don't need to be broken; remember the off-site webmaster will only be able to see the thread title LOL). BUT...

Please use a proper technique!!!

The folks who break links by messing with the middle of the URL, well, dunno if you're lazy, or unfamiliar, or maybe on one of those crazy Macs where the mouse only has one button, but you're destroying the usability of your post! A broken link should still be able to be...

1. highlighted, then
2. right-clicked, then
3. opened without any freaking typing, via the right-click context menu

Good...
google.com (just remove the http://www.)

Also Good...
Code:
http://www.google.com
Bad...
http://www.google dot com
http://www.google com
etc
 

madage

Level 2 Member
...A broken link should still be able to be...

1. highlighted, then
2. right-clicked, then
3. opened without any freaking typing, via the right-click context menu
I had no idea this was possible. I always copy + paste into address bar. Until today, that is.
 

sbft77

Level 2 Member
For the other side of this (i.e., me clicking on links), in Firefox I use the RefControl extension, which prevents the browser from sending the HTTP referer header.
 

gui777

New Member
Matt, an idea: it's possible to anonymize who the referrer is, in two ways. The first, it'd still be possible for those linked to to tell the link came from saverocity.com, but not the full URL (so they wouldn't know which post, or even whether it was on the forum or not). The second is generally implemented as a forum plugin and forces every link to be redirected through a 3rd party website, which in turns redirects you to the link's actual location, so it wouldn't be possible to tell the link originated at saverocity at all. Just something to consider for links that aren't put in code brackets! :)
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
The copy/paste technique works pretty well, except when the URL is super long and the box has a horizontal scrollbar. Sometimes it's hard to swipe the entire thing, and using keyboard shortcuts inside the CODE window isn't the answer (SHIFT-CTRL-END jumps out of the code box). For whoever makes the forum software ... wouldn't a "copy all to clipboard" or even "select all" button be nice to offer?
 

Someone

Level 2 Member
I tend to browse the forum on my phone while waiting for this or that, and find copying long links from the code boxes nearly impossible in safari. Maybe it's just the way iOS implements the selection box, but it can be very difficult and I'd find a select button very helpful too.
 

TheBOSman

Moderator
Staff member
I tend to browse the forum on my phone while waiting for this or that, and find copying long links from the code boxes nearly impossible in safari. Maybe it's just the way iOS implements the selection box, but it can be very difficult and I'd find a select button very helpful too.
If you're on a mobile device, perhaps the best approach for now is to put in the link, then immediately report your post to the moderating staff to have the code brackets added, if doing it from a mobile device proves difficult. It takes me maybe 5-10 seconds max to make that change personally, not a big deal for me to do (I usually access from a desktop).
 

Someone

Level 2 Member
If you're on a mobile device, perhaps the best approach for now is to put in the link, then immediately report your post to the moderating staff to have the code brackets added, if doing it from a mobile device proves difficult. It takes me maybe 5-10 seconds max to make that change personally, not a big deal for me to do (I usually access from a desktop).
Thanks @TheBOSman I'll do that when posting, but I meant that when reading the forums on a mobile it can be difficult to select a long link someone else posted in a code box. In my case I think it's mostly due to the way iOS implements the selection box.
 

GRiZ

Level 2 Member
I was actually just thinking about this while reading a DoC post that had a bunch of useful comments that we def don't want the banks reading, nice to see that you guys came up with a workable solution.
 
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