About direct links

[PearlK]

Hi,

One of the rules is to not include direct links in a post - mainly to protect against spammers.

If I come across a question, and want to direct the person to a helpful non-spam website, is there a simple and acceptable way to do that?

(I've just done it in a fairly clumsy way!)

Thanks
xxP

 

[Christinegirl]

I had the same question when I first joined this forum. So what I do is:
I copy and paste the link, for example: www. girlsforum.com/threads/about-direct-links.14603
and I click on the link once (which gives me three options, the last one looks like a medicine capsule with a "\" through it). I click on it and it "unlinks" the URL so we just see the words:
www. girlsforum.com/threads/about-direct-links.14603

{It won't work with the blue link on this post because I just colored it in blue. It's not actually a live link. If it was, it would look like this: About direct links }

Solitaire, the administrator (or the owner of the forum), might be able to explain why we can't include live links, in our posts, that aren't spam.

 

[PearlK]

I get it.

I can include a complete URL in a message as long as it's not "clickable" - i.e. it's just a piece of text, not actually a live link.

Thanks for your help

xxP

 

[Christinegirl]

What I would also suggest is (when you include a URL, in text form) put a space after the www.
When I typed an actual URL, even when it was in text form, this forum changed it to a live link after I posted my reply.

And (as you mentioned) we're not allowed to post URL's/links that promote a company/business, especially to sell something - because the post is like an ad (and we have enough ads on the internet as it is).
You'd be surprised how many people there are (especially from India, for some strange reason ) that sign up for the sole purpose of advertising a product/company/business in the hopes that we'll buy something!

 

[baginparis]

www. website.com is right?

 

[Christinegirl]

I'm sorry, hon, but it's still a live link and the administrator/owner doesn't allow live links, especially when it's an "advertisement" for a company/website to sell something, etc. (I'll change it so it looks like
www.{then with a space}then the website's name dot com

The administrator sometimes bans members, if it looks like they're trying to self-promote or they're trying to get free advertisement to sell a product. (We're exposed to plenty of ads on the Internet. It's nice if we can have at least one forum where we don't have to be exposed to even more ads.)