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clicking on "this"

Started by Zllio , Nov 27 2008 04:36 AM

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22 replies to this topic

#1 Zllio

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 04:36 AM

Is it safe to click on things called this and here? Why aren't links simply posted in their visible form or with a reference to the site they refer to? Does anyone take the time to see what's behind those innocuous little words or is it more of a statistical safety issue - Most this's and here's are safe, therefore this here probably is too.

Any thoughts on this?

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#2 garmanma

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 10:46 AM

I have my status bar enabled so that when you hover over a link, it shows the location

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#3 m0le

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 10:53 AM

I think it just looks neater than posting the URL. Garmanma's idea seems wise so you can scutinise the URL before you click.

Most times they are perfectly safe, like this :thumbsup:

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#4 boopme

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 11:29 AM

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#5 woodyblade

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 12:02 PM

I normally do the same thing as Garmanma, in Firefox just hovering over those links like "Here" and "This".

I can see boopmes' point over not clicking normal members links e.g. New Members who may be spamming or linking potentially dangerous sites but that also brings other members who have posted many replies into this, so technically that means you wouldn't click on those?

Other Members including myself when posting a reply to a topic will give links backing up their thoughts on something or pointing out something relevant to the topic, I put my links like this, Google, most times or the whole Web URL if it is small enough.

Would you click on the Link above?

Or this one? - Indian PM Vows Action On Attacks

I know the point that those links could hide something else to a site that you don't want to visit, so if a site isn't a reputable or trustworthy site I normally put the Whole Link, but in the Case of Google or a News Website I normally enclose them in the URL Tags like above

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#6 M...

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 12:23 PM

One thing to keep in mind when posting here at Bleeping Computer is that what you see in the printable form of a topic ("Options", "Print this topic") is not exactly the same as in the original view of the post/topic. In post #3 above, for example, the word "this" is replaced by "http://www.google.com/". In my opinion, this is a good thing, but it can make the printed version of a post a bit unreadable (i.e., not the same words that appear in the original view of the post).

I have seen other Forum software where this transformation is not made in the printable view and it can make the printed copy of a post rather useless when the full URL is not used in the original post. Imagine a post about security or error recovery that you print for reference, and all you see on the printed page is something like "go here to get the latest updates", rather than the actual URL in place of the word "here".

I normally post the actual URL in a link, preceded by a textual description of the purpose/content of the link. In that way, the original view (content) of a post is identical to the printable view (content) of that post.

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#7 scff249

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 01:18 PM

I don't even know how to do those things that people do anyways, so I really don't create links like that...let alone I don't care how, so...yeah :thumbsup:

"Ototo'i wa usagi o mita no...Kino wa shika...Kyo wa anata." -Kotomi Ichinose (Clannad) [see below for translation]
"Day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, and yesterday a deer, and today, you." -The Dandelion Girl
"You are not alone, and you are not strange. You are you, and everyone has damage. Be the better person." -Katawa Shoujo

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#8 m0le

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 01:20 PM

Good point M...

I assume most people are reading the posts online rather than from a printout.

Seems that when it comes to something that would be likely printed out (as with instructions) it may be a good idea to use the full URL.

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#9 m0le

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 01:22 PM

I don't even know how to do those things that people do anyways, so I really don't create links like that...let alone I don't care how, so...yeah

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/ind...2&hl=bbcode

Start here, scff249 :thumbsup:

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#10 Animal

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 03:22 PM

Is it safe to click on things called this and here? Why aren't links simply posted in their visible form or with a reference to the site they refer to?

Any thoughts on this?

Think about a link that would look like this in a post as an example:

http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1227489886/ref=sr_pg_4?ie=UTF8&rs=346333011&keywords=Harley%2BDavidson&rh=n%3A15684181%2Cn%3A346333011%2Ck%3AHarley%2BDavidson%2Cp%5F36%3A-10099&page=4

That would surely diminish a posts readability if I inserted 3 or 4 of those types within the body of a post. As opposed to typing Amazon.com search results

Or click here for Amazon.com Harley search results.

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#11 JohnWho

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Posted 27 November 2008 - 05:39 PM

I agree with what Animal said,

and would also add that "trusted" members of a board, most often those with a lot of posts or a Staff member, will usually be posting safe links, since if they weren't they'd most likely have been removed from the board.

A new member with only 1 or 2 posts doesn't have a track record and may easily be a Spammer trying to misdirect folks.

On this board, for example, if an Admin responded to one of your posts with a quick,

"click here for help"

you can feel very comfortable that it is a safe site.

I know you think you understand what you thought I said,
but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant!

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#12 scff249

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Posted 28 November 2008 - 12:48 AM

99% of the time, I trust the higher ups. If it's any link posted by a new member, I question it unless I recognize it (regardless of link type).

@M0le: That's okay. I just need to use the basic ones that I already know (which are limited to the bold, italics, underline, and quote ones (along with smilies :thumbsup:

), and with links, I just use them as is instead of making the fancy stuff).

Speaking of BBCode stuff, I sometimes get tempted to using the Gamefaqs format since I post there a lot :flowers:

(which are , , and that's all I know out of their BBCode because those are the only ones I use).

There's another forum I also post at (besides smaller forums with the normal BBCodes), but their BBCode changed to the point where it's asinine to even do them.

Edited by scff249, 28 November 2008 - 12:51 AM.

"Ototo'i wa usagi o mita no...Kino wa shika...Kyo wa anata." -Kotomi Ichinose (Clannad) [see below for translation]
"Day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, and yesterday a deer, and today, you." -The Dandelion Girl
"You are not alone, and you are not strange. You are you, and everyone has damage. Be the better person." -Katawa Shoujo

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#13 tg1911

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Posted 28 November 2008 - 01:01 AM

Speaking of BBCode stuff, I sometimes get tempted to using the Gamefaqs format since I post there a lot (which are , , and that's all I know out of their BBCode because those are the only ones I use).

Those are HTML tags.
Not the same as BBCode.
Notice the difference in the type of brackets used:

[b][/b] [i][/i]

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#14 scff249

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Posted 28 November 2008 - 01:53 AM

My bad

Apparently, I can't tell the difference anyways, so....yeah....shutting up :flowers:

.

"Ototo'i wa usagi o mita no...Kino wa shika...Kyo wa anata." -Kotomi Ichinose (Clannad) [see below for translation]
"Day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, and yesterday a deer, and today, you." -The Dandelion Girl
"You are not alone, and you are not strange. You are you, and everyone has damage. Be the better person." -Katawa Shoujo

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#15 ruby1

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Posted 28 November 2008 - 12:11 PM

I too am very wary of links,especially when they are posted by relatively new members to the Board.

My way of 'protecting myself' is to right- mouse- click the link , then open Google and load it into there :thumbsup: