Posts without any links.

May 14, 2002 12:43 PM

Sean Meade posts a FPP without any links, but summarizes an article he read. The reaction is less than enthusiastic. Sean Meade takes offense. Can I post a summary of a conversation I had the other day?
posted by signal to Etiquette/Policy at 12:43 PM (12 comments total)

I don't care how good the article is, if it isn't online, and you can't link to it, don't post.
posted by mcwetboy at 12:49 PM on May 14, 2002

Ah, but signal uses the term "FPP" in a MetaTalk post.

I tried to be nice, and not mention pancakes, but I did feel strangely compelled to comment on the propriety of the technique. I am myself guilty of posting to a newspaper article I read, but only because I was able to find an online link to it. Just describing an article only moves the whole topic one step further from "something interesting on the web".
posted by yhbc at 12:51 PM on May 14, 2002

I thought Matt fixed this. How did Sean Meade avoid this blockage?
posted by BlueTrain at 12:56 PM on May 14, 2002

So what, just email him. This thread was so predictable.
posted by luser at 1:04 PM on May 14, 2002

yhbc: shouldn't that have been: "Ah, but signal uses the term "FPP" in an MTP." ?
posted by signal at 1:06 PM on May 14, 2002

LNGOTA*

* Lets not go over THAT again.
posted by yhbc at 1:10 PM on May 14, 2002

Screw you guys, I'm starting a MagLog.
posted by NortonDC at 1:39 PM on May 14, 2002

Here's my first try. Do you like it?
posted by NortonDC at 1:49 PM on May 14, 2002

BlueTrain: it looks like he just wrote:
<a href="" target="_self"></a>
posted by transient at 3:39 PM on May 14, 2002

You have GOT to be kidding.
Well, at the very least, there's an easy way to check for empty links.
posted by Su at 4:10 PM on May 14, 2002

I don't think he really took much offense - he more or less shrugged it off and said he was going to file it under "gave it a try".

But the workaround that transient mentions shows that he knew what he was doing. So he knows it's not acceptable but goes ahead and does it anyway. The one thing a post here needs is a link and everyone knows it.

The guidelines: Make sure you're linking to something on the web. If you're posting a generalized question to the audience, or posting a comment as a main thread, either find an appropriate mailing list, or use MetaTalk.

I can't even be bothered enough to work up some good old fashioned indignation, but hell. It's not kosher. Just throw a link in there.
posted by iconomy at 5:36 PM on May 14, 2002

I don't know any Cold Fusion but if it has a halfway-decent regex implementation, something like this would do the job:
if ( $text =~ /<a[^>]+></i ) { grouse at user }
posted by majick at 6:03 PM on May 14, 2002