Link to comment bug?

November 4, 2008 1:04 PM

Direct link to comment gets stripped of comment number.

I was sending DaShiv's comment from the election thread to a friend, and although the link copied from the time stamp looks fine in the email, it ends up going to the beginning of the thread, and the comment number (#2324437) is stripped from the address. This number is not stripped in the email, even when received. What's happening?

posted by weapons-grade pandemonium to Bugs at 1:04 PM (16 comments total)

Are you sure this is a MeFi problem and not maybe a wrapping problem in email? Can you copy the timestamp from this comment and paste it in as a comment to see if it's the same? It sounds to me like whatever your email program is (or your friend's email program, or your friend's browser) isn't interpreting the #123456 part at the end of the URL. I don't know your level of technical skill so I won't presume anyhting but can you try it here, maybe with the DaShiv comment as well as this one?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:12 PM on November 4, 2008

We're not doing anything unusual on this end. Sounds like it's a browser or email client problem, but it's tough to debug these kinds of issues 2nd hand. My first guess is maybe the link is wrapping for your friend, so the comment ID gets stripped.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:12 PM on November 4, 2008

I sent the link to myself. It is not wrapped. Does the same thing.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:13 PM on November 4, 2008

There are two ways to render a link to a thread (and to a comment therein). One is with the canonical url, in this format:

http://www.metafilter.com/76227/#2324437

The other is with the old url structure, which has this format:
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/76227#2324437

In the latter case, the url gets automatically redirected to the canonical url; when I do this in IE, specifically, I end up with no anchor tag on the redirected URL (though IE usually takes me to the proper spot despite the lack of an anchor in the address bar).

So it's possible that:
1. You're copying an old-style url, and
2. Your friend is using IE or another browser that truncates the anchor during redirect, and
3. That's leading furthermore to not-going-to-the-anchor.

This is all just a theory, though; I haven't tested it thoroughly and may be barking up the wrong tree. Where you would have gotten your hands on an old-style url, for example, I'm not sure.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:16 PM on November 4, 2008

Send a comment link to yourself, pb, and see if it does it with your email client.

This is how the link looks in the email:

http://www.metafilter.com/76227/We-have-the-facts-and-were-voting#2324437
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:17 PM on November 4, 2008

I right clicked on the time stamp and copied directly. Not getting old-style.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:20 PM on November 4, 2008

I did try it with other comments before I posted, jessamyn. Same thing. Did you try emailing a comment link to yourselves?
This would determine whether it's an email / browser problem or a MeFi bug.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:35 PM on November 4, 2008

I just sent a comment link to your email address and mine, wgp. It worked for me [firefox browser, gmail] see how it works in yours.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:39 PM on November 4, 2008

I gmailed the link to myself and it worked fine in IE just now, yeah.
posted by cortex (staff) at 1:44 PM on November 4, 2008

Stripped. I'm running FireFox, so the problem is with my email. Thanks, mods.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:44 PM on November 4, 2008

Damn Zombies!
posted by Sailormom at 2:15 PM on November 4, 2008

Sounds like your email client's URL parser/clickifier stops before the #. Which one are you using?
posted by flabdablet at 2:49 PM on November 4, 2008

I'm using the Windows Mail that came with Vista. I think the # is exactly the problem, flabdablet. Is there a parser fix, or should I change client?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:58 PM on November 4, 2008

You should change clients, not because of this idiot link parsing issue, but because Windows Mail is just Outlook Express in lipstick, and this is not the last time it will cause you grief. Use Thunderbird instead. When Thunderbird causes you grief you can find out why, and all its mails are kept in plain-text mbox files instead of some stupid, inscrutable, fragile Microsoft binary blob.
posted by flabdablet at 2:33 AM on November 5, 2008

For what it's worth, I just sent a mail to myself containing the URL you're having trouble with, and Thunderbird linkified it correctly.
posted by flabdablet at 2:37 AM on November 5, 2008

Thank you Mr. flabdablet. I will do that.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:23 AM on November 5, 2008