Directly Linking to Posts

[Master Mew]

Is there any way, at all, to hotlink to specific forum posts that will work for people not using the forum default 15-posts-per-page setting? I've managed to manually produce URLs that will link to the correct pages, but even then they have to be keyed in directly to the address bar because if you hotlink with those URLs they get modified somehow?

Am I the only one having this problem?

Here's an example of where I tried to post a bunch of links with the correct page numbers and they were all broken.

And, if you're using the 40-posts-per-page setting, here is an example of how post-linking won't work for you.

Even the links in my notifications won't take me to the correct page unless the post is on the last page, since the (artificially higher) page number just defaults down to the highest existing page. :drowsy:

 

[Kthleen]

Actually, I've been having link problems, too:

1. I use the default 15, but sometimes I'll click on a link that links to a post in an old, large thread, then I have to go a few pages back to find the actual post (I guess because of a lot of deleted posts earlier in the thread?). I don't have any examples, though.
Edit: This one's not a link in a post, but I did find this post by Fennel while searching the "What music are you currently listening to?" thread for posts with "Enya" in them. The url says the post is on page 2345, but it's actually on 2343, and even if I click the post's number (or right-click->Copy Link Address->paste it into url bar), it brings me back to 2345.
Edit: Ah, found an in-post link example. The link in this post leads to a post that's supposedly on page 214, but is actually on 212. Once again, clicking the target post's number or copy/pasting the url brings me back to 214.

2. This one's less related, but sometimes my old links are dead because I guess the url name system has changed? I mean, especially with links to the old ^<V game thread (but sometimes others), I keep having to fix them because they have letter/number/symbol combos that replaced certain other symbols, which I guess are no longer in use. For example, look at these two urls*:

[noparse]http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f530/%5E-v-game-8629/index1153.html#post1278517
http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f530/v-game-8629/index1153.html#post1278517[/noparse]

Only the bottom one works. The top one is how it was originally linked to in this post (I'll fix it later), but now it only gives me a "Page not found" page.


*Sorry, I couldn't find a way to make the second one give just the url as the link instead of saying "The ^ < V Game," so I just noparsed them both.

 

[Master Mew]

I know Kthleen and I aren't the only users who are experiencing this issue. :-/

Is this a known issue that's being worked on? Has it already been looked into and is unsolvable? Is it not an issue at all and there are available workarounds that most users simply aren't aware of?

 

[CrackFox]

I've experienced both problems myself so it's not just you guys. I don't believe it's been looked in too yet though but i'll forward this to the admins if not. Archaic might know why it's happening at least.

2. This one's less related, but sometimes my old links are dead because I guess the url name system has changed? I mean, especially with links to the old ^<V game thread (but sometimes others), I keep having to fix them because they have letter/number/symbol combos that replaced certain other symbols, which I guess are no longer in use. For example, look at these two urls*:

[noparse]http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f530/%5E-v-game-8629/index1153.html#post1278517
http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f530/v-game-8629/index1153.html#post1278517[/noparse]

Only the bottom one works. The top one is how it was originally linked to in this post (I'll fix it later), but now it only gives me a "Page not found" page.


*Sorry, I couldn't find a way to make the second one give just the url as the link instead of saying "The ^ < V Game," so I just noparsed them both.

This happened to a lot of old links when the forum upgraded a few months ago. I had to tirelessly relink all the game in The War Room arhcive as most of the links were dead and filled with the random symbols you mentioned above. As I was told at the time, there was nothing else to do but relink entirely or edit and remove the bad parts.

This shouldn't happen with links made after the change over.

 

[Kthleen]

I see. Thank you for the info.

 

[Kogoro]

@Master Mew; The number on the top right corner of every post is a link, and it should be a URL that doesn't use index#.html format. Such links should work regardless of people's posts per page settings.

Example: The URL of the #1 of your topic starter is: http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f469/directly-linking-posts-168497-post5338245/#post5338245

 

[Kthleen]

The number on the top right corner of every post is a link, and it should be a URL that doesn't use index#.html format. Such links should work regardless of people's posts per page settings.

What about my example? I can click the post number or copy the url and paste it into the url bar, and it will still change it to include not just a page number, but the wrong page number. That is,

[noparse]http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f556/bulbagarden-conversational-chat-thread-13405-post632431/#post632431[/noparse]

will change to

[noparse]http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f556/bulbagarden-conversational-chat-thread-13405/index214.html#post632431[/noparse]

If I delete "index214.html", it'll go to page 1.
If I change 214 to 212, it'll go to the right post on the right page, but I shouldn't need to go searching pages back to see where the intended post is (and it's not necessarily two pages: I clicked on a post number on page 501 in the same thread, and it took me to page 505).

Is it just a problem with large threads or something, where there may be a lot of deleted and/or merged posts that mess with the numbering for some reason?

 

[Master Mew]

(What Kthleen said)

The direct links *should* work regardless of your individual settings, but they still default to specific pages (for the 15-post setting) regardless.

EDIT: I can even take the faulty link and manually edit in the correct page number for my settings (45-posts-per-page), and that link will work - but if I use that link in a hotlink, it breaks entirely.

 

[Kogoro]

@Kthleen; @Master Mew; This is just a guess at the moment, but the issue may come from the number of deleted posts in that thread (which is over 200). The post right after Kthleen's, which directs to the incorrect page 214, directs to page 215. Similarily, posts on page 1203 were directing around page 1211.

 

[Master Mew]

@Kthleen; @Master Mew; This is just a guess at the moment, but the issue may come from the number of deleted posts in that thread (which is over 200). The post right after Kthleen's, which directs to the incorrect page 214, directs to page 215. Similarily, posts on page 1203 were directing around page 1211.

This shouldn't have been an issue with the links I provided in the first post of this thread (from a Mafia thread in the War Room - I'd be legitimately surprised if there were more than ten deleted posts in that thread [and the page numbers are off by far more than that]).

 

[Kogoro]

@Kthleen; @Master Mew; This is just a guess at the moment, but the issue may come from the number of deleted posts in that thread (which is over 200). The post right after Kthleen's, which directs to the incorrect page 214, directs to page 215. Similarily, posts on page 1203 were directing around page 1211.

This shouldn't have been an issue with the links I provided in the first post of this thread (from a Mafia thread in the War Room - I'd be legitimately surprised if there were more than ten deleted posts in that thread [and the page numbers are off by far more than that]).

The links in that mafia thread you posted appear to be missing the http:// prefix, making the software assume that you're internal linking, so the software is adding the prefix "http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net" to the input. Putting "/f469/directly-linking-posts-168497/#post5362428" into a URL tag will work just the same as using "http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f469/directly-linking-posts-168497/#post5362428", as long as it's a bmgf link.

Otherwise, all of the links in that post are in index#.html link format right in the post itself rather than direct post links.

 

[Master Mew]

The weird thing is it changes the index number in the URL from what I had it set as.