The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - URL's not linkable in messages

URL's not linkable in messages

Has anyone else noticed URL's not being linkable? I've seen a few postings where this has happened, and in a couple cases the words got cut off so the link isn't visible. what's going on?

http://www.google.com should be a link, right?
maybe www.google.com will be the link...

nathan
Sunday, October 26, 2003

But http://www.google.com/ is a link, right?

It's also the proper way to write URLs.

Jaxxon
Sunday, October 26, 2003

LOL!

Let's try another one:

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/glossary/ch6.htm

Jaxxon
Sunday, October 26, 2003

It's clear - "url-izing" doesn't work anymore in Joel's forum.

I think he modified the source code.

:-(

Jaxxon
Sunday, October 26, 2003

I'd say that's on purpose.

JoS has a good google PageRank (tm) and there are people that want to profit from that PR, linking to their sites.

Joel doesn't like this

char* full_name()
Sunday, October 26, 2003

I would rather copy and paste the URI than wade through lots of marketing posts.

John Ridout
Sunday, October 26, 2003

Just doubleclick on this urls, then middleclick and there you are
No need for links :D

Adalbert Blumenkohl
Sunday, October 26, 2003

So the community that helped build JoS is not meant to benefit from it?

That seems a little sinister, don't you think?

Sunday, October 26, 2003

http://www.sinister-but-true.no?/

Sunday, October 26, 2003

I think it had more to do with the repeated:

<a href="www.link.com">This Is The Link<a/>

breaking and then immediately a post afterwards with the corrected link than with people cheating Page Rank.

I have noticed some people posting their full sig, including website address at the bottom of each of their posts:

Mark Wieczorek
http://www.MarkTAW.com

and I presumed it was to increase their page rank, though I don't think any of these people stood to gain monetarily from posting here.

I suppose Joel won't be dropping by to tell us why, or he'd probably have done so already.

www.MarkTAW.com
Sunday, October 26, 2003

It's a code change because it affects even old messages.

I suspect a mistake that has survived because it's the weekend. Nearly all links given were relevant and useful, so I am suspicious of conspiracy theories.

Stephen Jones
Sunday, October 26, 2003

It is Sunday. Some people (clearly, not us :-p) have lives. Plus, Joel's in LA for the PDC, so I expect he's going to be persona absentia for the week.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Sunday, October 26, 2003

http://www.testing.com/index.htm

Matthew
Sunday, October 26, 2003

the problem i've seen in other listings is that the URL might be really long, then it doesn't display because of the fixed-width nature of the column. so not only can you not click on the link, but you also can't copy & paste the link, because you don't see the letters that are cut off. i suppose you could do a view source or something, but that's kinda roundabout way of doing things...

nathan
Sunday, October 26, 2003

copy & paste trick for here and many other places:

drag from the line *below* the URL to the beginniing of the URL.

Paste into address well. IE (and maybe other browsers) will use only the first line.

mb
Sunday, October 26, 2003

http://www.fogcreek.com

Monday, October 27, 2003

Nope, even that doesn't work :-)

Monday, October 27, 2003

http://www.fogcreek.com
Monday, October 27, 2003

"http://www.linkmedamnit.com"

what da?
Monday, October 27, 2003

what da?
Monday, October 27, 2003

I don't buy the page rank conspiracy theory, either. Joel's clever enough, I think, to come up with an obfuscation system to prevent it, like he did with the mailto links. Do the GoogleBots (TM) count links written with javascript? Could he do a no-robots redirect page? There must be a better solution than turning links off. Especially when combined with the fixed width situation.

Brian
Monday, October 27, 2003

some message

http://bobbybrown.com
Monday, October 27, 2003

sdf

d
Monday, October 27, 2003

I believe, that Joel doesn't want us to post links:
1. It breaks the flow of conversation (some people never go to the link and keep talking, without knowing the point). If instead of linking people were posting the essence of the text it would have kept the conversation more lively.
2. Linked resources tend to disappear in time - makes discussion unreadable.
3. Joel wants us to discuss things here not swap links. He wants us to try to say what we want to say in own words. When we chat face to face we do not say: "...and my point is perfectly proved by www.hellnextdoor.com/burningfire/left-pot/24565.htm."

4. If I'm right this post will disappear soon due to the well known rules, which we do not discuss here.

The WebSpeed Man
Tuesday, October 28, 2003