help me with posting a link in a thread

October 15, 2002 7:35 AM

I'm new to this so I was wondering if someone could help me with posting a link in a thread. When the prompt comes up for the url, I copy and paste it. But when I preview it, it doesn't come out as a link but the whole thing with the brackets and all. (I don't know what you call that) I figured it would come out ok as the link when it was posted, but it didn't. Could someone please tell me with what I'm doing wrong?


posted by tami3_3 to Bugs at 7:35 AM (75 comments total)

It would be helpful to know exactly what string you are copying and pasting.

Another option is to just type the html yourself:

<a href="http://foo.bar/">Foo!</a>

is displayed as

Foo!
posted by iceberg273 at 7:40 AM on October 15, 2002

Would you please elaborate on the "whole thing with the brackets and all" thing?
"ctrl + shift + a" should do the trick

posted by matteo at 7:41 AM on October 15, 2002

Tami, for the link you wanted to post earlier, you would do it this way in the body of your comment:

<a href="http://www.iacenter.org">International Action Center</a>

(just remember to close your quotations, and don't forget to put the </a> after the link!)
posted by taz at 8:03 AM on October 15, 2002

See that's the thing, I don't know html (the whole thing with the brackets and all). I suppose that means I shouldn't try posting things and leave it at just reading.

Okay, this is the link I'm trying to post, this is using your link on the shortcuts.



Now here it using iceberg's way of doing it;

mediamonitors.net

And the "ctrl + shift + a" ?????

And as I'm reading the preview, none of it is even showing up. I am so sorry I'm not good at this, maybe I really will just stick with reading here. :(




posted by tami3_3 at 8:09 AM on October 15, 2002

tami,

Type the word or phrase that you want linked. Drag the cursor and highlight this word or phrase. Hit the "Link" button. Paste the URL into the blank and hit "OK."

And don't forget to read the guidelines and such! You might have noticed MeFites can be an ornery lot. You will garner less negative attention if you post one paragraph only, without (p) paragraph breaks or sentences in ALL CAPS or BOLD. Just a word to the wise!

Have fun!
posted by Shane at 8:11 AM on October 15, 2002

I see your problem.

I viewed the source and saw this:

"<ahref http:mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq36.html#_edn27/>mediamonitors.net<br>"

you need a space between the A and the HREF. Make sure you put </A> after the text you want to turn into a link.
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:13 AM on October 15, 2002

You also forgot to do HREF= your link.
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:14 AM on October 15, 2002

Hell, the whole link is screwed...

Here's your link

And here's the code:
<a href="http://mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq36.html#_edn27">mediamonitors.net</a>

posted by Dark Messiah at 8:17 AM on October 15, 2002

W3Schools has a practice area where you can try out html to see what works and what doesn't. The hyperlinks how to is what you want.
posted by iceberg273 at 8:18 AM on October 15, 2002

I see the problem that tami references here..

There's going to be a march in Washington on Saturday, October 26 by the International Action Center.<br />
<br />
<a target='_self' href="http://www.iacenter.org/"></a>


The phrase you want linked goes between the A and the /A tags. The best way to do this is to, as Shane said, highlight the text you want linked and then click the link button.

Then you get what you want to see, and that is:

There's going to be a march in Washington on Saturday, October 26 by the <a target='_self' href="http://www.iacenter.org/">International Action Center.</a><br />


Which shows up as:
There's going to be a march in Washington on Saturday, October 26 by the International Action Center.



posted by PrinceValium at 8:22 AM on October 15, 2002

There's going to be a march in Washington on Saturday, October 26 by the International Action Center.

Okay, nobody scream "Double Post" now when she posts it! Valium, you're a Prince of a guy.
posted by Shane at 8:24 AM on October 15, 2002

Any opinions of the link itself, folks? Is this going to make the N-word ("N***Filter") word come up again? Or is this a fresh new link? Here's your chance for Preventive Maintenance for a change... (You can avoid PMS, or Preventative Maintenance (lack of) Syndrome)
posted by Shane at 8:31 AM on October 15, 2002

mediamonitors

I did it! Thanks so much for all your help. But I'm going straight over to those links that iceberg mentioned and practice.

posted by tami3_3 at 8:43 AM on October 15, 2002

It's not a double post, nor is it irrelevant, considering this post on todays main page...
posted by dash_slot- at 9:14 AM on October 15, 2002

tami3_3 — you may want to check out Webmonkey. It's a pretty good place to pick up simple HTML commands.
posted by herc at 9:28 AM on October 15, 2002

When miguel asked if it was ok to put links on our user pages, I had the same problem tami3_3. I emailed him and he kindly explained it in much the same way as everyone here has. He also suggested this site.
posted by Tarrama at 9:43 AM on October 15, 2002

Bugger!
posted by Tarrama at 9:45 AM on October 15, 2002

I think I have it down now. Except after reading all the guidelines, this sentence stood out "asking for feedback is a bad post". That is, sort of, what I did. Although that wasn't my main purpose. I meant to post to something someone has written that I thought, so far, has been the best, most comprehensive compiling of info about 9/11. Thanks all, again for your help.
posted by tami3_3 at 10:16 AM on October 15, 2002

tami3_3, the guideline refers to self-linking: "Posting a link to your homepage and asking for feedback is a bad post."

That wasn't what you were doing, was it?
posted by timeistight at 11:00 AM on October 15, 2002

See that's the thing, I don't know html (the whole thing with the brackets and all).
see, thats the thing, maybe you ought to learn 'the whole thing with brackets and all' instead of just saying you don't know 'the whole thing with brackets and all' because, really, 'the whole thing with brackets and all' is really so damn simple you'd never beleive a 'whole thing with brackets and all' could be so simple. and all.

ok, so that was snarky. but really, html is soooooo simple. check it out!
posted by quonsar at 11:14 AM on October 15, 2002

HTML sucks.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 11:27 AM on October 15, 2002

Time was, Snarks was hunted in the wild. They was tough to see, though, and just a few spotty records remain: Snark!
posted by Shane at 11:43 AM on October 15, 2002

Ya know, as I was reading these posts, I was reflecting on how kind and helpful everyone was being, and how sweet it was for so many people to patiently offer advice on an admittedly basic subject.
Of course, then I read quonsar's post, and I realized sometimes people are just mean, karma be damned. I mean, obviously people who don't know HTML can't *possibly* have anything interesting to say. That's like, common knowledge and stuff.

Snarky? Right back at ya, quonsar!
posted by Zulujines at 1:05 PM on October 15, 2002

you must have read a different post than the one i wrote. i said nuttin about anybody having anything interesting to say. YOU made that up. see, my post is right there in plain sight, and says nothing about whether non-html people have anything interesting to say.

what was interesting to me, is the original poster LOOKED RIGHT AT A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF HOW TO DO WHAT THEY WERE ASKING (several, actually) AND WROTE IT OFF. because rather than try to understand 'all the brackets and stuff' they immediately reject anything that has 'all those brackets and stuff'. HTML is simpler than monkey poo. unless, of course, you have programmed your brain to go immediately numb upon encountering 'brackets and stuff'.

about the only thing that interests me more than how people insulate themselves from having to know something, is people who read something and then attribute an entirely different meaning than what the words impart. i cannot decide which results in a more crippled human being - the one that refuses to learn, or the one that invents meaning.

right back at ya, zulujines!
posted by quonsar at 1:33 PM on October 15, 2002

What's left after a Shark attack Snark attack ain't pretty, Zulu. They ain't tall, but watch yer legs!
posted by Shane at 1:36 PM on October 15, 2002

Hey, for the record, quonsar, in his own gruff way, is a major benefactor here on MetaFilter. He's helped me more than once and, if you re-read his comment, you'll find he was helping here too.

*apologizes for damage done to quonsar's rep*
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:47 PM on October 15, 2002

posted by Shane at 1:49 PM on October 15, 2002

quonsar, your original post was not full of rich, colorful prose from which to impart meaning in the first place. You shouldn't be surprised if people take it the wrong way. Now, back to the question at hand: you told her she ought to learn HTML...why? Because you think it's simple? Who cares! There is no prerequisite to posting, is there? I took your post to mean that if she wants to post, she should learn HTML first. Hence my comment.
And furthermore, some people don't care about HTML. Maybe she'd never have another purpose for it...so why does she need to know it? Was the problem not solved here? Was there any need for you to get pissy?
posted by Zulujines at 1:50 PM on October 15, 2002

quonsar, your original post was not full of rich, colorful prose from which to impart meaning in the first place. You shouldn't be surprised if people take it the wrong way. Now, back to the question at hand: you told her she ought to learn HTML...why? Because you think it's simple? Who cares! There is no prerequisite to posting, is there? I took your comment to mean that if she wants to post, she should learn HTML first. Hence my comment.
And furthermore, some people don't care about HTML. Maybe she'd never have another purpose for it...so why does she need to know it? Was the problem not solved here? Was there any need for you to get pissy?
posted by Zulujines at 1:52 PM on October 15, 2002

whoopsee! Sorry about that.
Miguel, I've read many of your comments here and on MeFi already, and I respect your opinion. The reason I got on quonsar about his comment is that I too, am new here and although I already do know HTML, I do occasionally have questions. quonsar's comment is the reason I never ask them; I would have been deeply hurt by his sarcastic reply. I understand and enjoy sarcasm in MeFi, but on here, when someone asks for help, it seems rather cruel.
posted by Zulujines at 1:58 PM on October 15, 2002

quonsar, HTML has never been a requirement for being a member on mefi. That's why those little buttons are there. Tami needed help with the shortcut buttons, not writing HTML code. Maybe if Tami applied for a job as a web developer your eyebrows might be raised, but seriously, you guys need to give others a break sometime. Especially you quonsar, who spews vitrol like nobody's business.

(also what zulu said)
posted by PrinceValium at 2:05 PM on October 15, 2002

quonsar's comment is the reason I never ask them

There are far better places to ask HTML questions than here -- an HTML help discussion board, for instance. I'm not saying that members would be correct to flame you, but you'd certainly be using this board for something it was not intended for, so you should expect a little hostility. The world's a hostile place.

On the flip side, quonsar could have been more gentle in his cujoling of Tami to learn HTML. He's right -- it's really easy once you know how, like learning a new form of punctuation. Tami had already said she'll go learn HTML before attempting another post, so he was a bit late jumping on her. He did, however, respond in a thoroughly quonsaresque manner, and he acknowledged his touchy tone in his post.

Can't we fuckwits just get along?
posted by me3dia at 2:14 PM on October 15, 2002

So a complete working knowledge of HTML is necessary to be a meaningful contributor? How much of the W3C spec do we have to match? Must my posts be Bobby-approved? Christ, do they even validate?

tami3_3 (or anyone using Mozilla), you can give the finger to that attitude by downloading Mozilla and adding in Composite, a WYSIWG editor that works right in text boxes like MetaFilter's (says the fella who codes longhand all day).
posted by yerfatma at 2:14 PM on October 15, 2002

html is, like, scary.
posted by blogRot at 2:18 PM on October 15, 2002

Actually, I didn't mean questions about HTML, I meant questions in general. I know what MetaTalk is for.
Yes, I realize the world is a hostile place, me3dia...that's why I have a psychiatrist. Actually, I wish more people went to psychiatrists. I think we fuckwits would get along much better if we were all walking around in a drug-induced haze. *sigh*
posted by Zulujines at 2:24 PM on October 15, 2002

Who has to learn HTML? It's not like we're getting into tables, alignment and styles. We are talking about the simple method of posting a link. <a href="me link">me label</a> It takes a minute to learn and it's all the markup you have to know to use this site.

well, not all, but enough to do most of what everyone else does
posted by eyeballkid at 2:27 PM on October 15, 2002

...if we were all walking around in a drug-induced haze.

Hmm--I thought we were...
posted by Shane at 2:32 PM on October 15, 2002

tami3_3, if your html skills need work, how are your web-searching skills? Are you confident in your ability to avoid double-posting, and do you feel that you can put together an interesting post? You didn't use the web to answer your question, but used the MetaTalk front page. I'm not necessarily trying to give you a hard time, but the front page is pretty full. Posting comments is a good way to get practice. Besides, if you doublepost, you'll really get a hard time.
posted by theora55 at 3:19 PM on October 15, 2002

sigh. i apologize for my gruffness.

So a complete working knowledge of HTML is necessary to be a meaningful contributor?

now, THAT's snarky! and, nobody here said that. nobody here even came close.

me3dia and eyeballkid said what i should have said, in the way i should have said it.


posted by quonsar at 4:23 PM on October 15, 2002

seeing if this works
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:30 PM on October 15, 2002

i for one welcome our new html literate overlords
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:32 PM on October 15, 2002

A happy ending after all!
Thank you, quonsar. I appreciate that, I really do.
posted by Zulujines at 4:34 PM on October 15, 2002

The instructions to "ctrl + shift + a" or click the Link button won't work if you're using a Mac. (You don't even see the Link button on a Mac.)
posted by kirkaracha at 4:42 PM on October 15, 2002

Shane, so the snark was the Butcher.
posted by thomcatspike at 4:49 PM on October 15, 2002

Cheers, Zulujines.

Oh and about that quonsar - what a pussy! ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:56 PM on October 15, 2002

meow!
posted by quonsar at 5:03 PM on October 15, 2002

quonsar, I really was just asking for help with the shortcut button for links. I don't think I was asking for HTML help. But as was pointed out, (and granted, it took me a couple of posts figure that out) I needed to learn at least enough HTML to post a link. I was by no means writing it off. But I did finally learn how to do it right.

theora55, I did a search and couldn't find anything on what I posted. I didn't think to use the web to ask my question because I thought it had to do with this site.

I really didn't mean to stir up so much trouble, honest! This is exactly why it took me this long to even try and post a comment in a thread. But still...thank you all.


posted by tami3_3 at 5:19 PM on October 15, 2002

tami3_3's real mistake was trying to use melted butter. Next time, put the butter in the freezer for about ten minutes, then dice it up with a knife and fold it into the flour mixture. Enjoy your scones!
posted by Ty Webb at 5:19 PM on October 15, 2002

Wow.
I like quonsar's pussy much much better.
Not as much as his pig, though.
posted by Zulujines at 5:45 PM on October 15, 2002

I like quonsar's pussy
...
...
...

posted by quonsar at 5:48 PM on October 15, 2002

Don't be fooled by his treacly yet prickly charm, Zulujines! You want to check out his latest pussy and wiener sandwich post on his infamous blog, before you start pandering to his every vice and command.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:00 PM on October 15, 2002

Can it be? Can Man and Snark really co-exist peacefully?

Only time will tell. So join us right here tomorrow for These Are The Days Of Our MeFi. ...and don't miss our special Thanksgiving episode in which MeFi conservatives and liberals sit down together for a peaceful dinner.

(Don't be intimidated, Tami! And remember to Google! Google alla time! Even Google for images!)
posted by Shane at 6:50 PM on October 15, 2002

Congratulations Zulujines, you have left quonsar speechless. A fine acheivement indeed.
posted by dg at 6:58 PM on October 15, 2002

achievement
posted by dg at 7:00 PM on October 15, 2002

I don't really know html that well, so when I have questions I've found the 'source' button to be invaluable. In IE5 it's under the view menu. BTW I've been writing my links the long way and never realized it! I've been typing out <a target='_self'..............>
posted by elwoodwiles at 8:51 PM on October 15, 2002

quonsar helped me too, with unintended bold interference.

A very belated "thank you", oh meepzorp, the obese.
posted by hama7 at 6:37 AM on October 16, 2002

[quonsar self-consciously sucks in belly]
it's the lack of cigarettes! or maybe the jelly nougats that replaced them.
posted by quonsar at 8:23 AM on October 16, 2002

I &hearts Quonsar. Quonsar showed me how to get my &hearts to work. Quonsar is indeed magnificent!
posted by Lynsey at 10:35 AM on October 16, 2002

Except that it didn't work this time, even tho I followed his instructions. Curses, foiled again.
posted by Lynsey at 10:39 AM on October 16, 2002

You forgot the semi-colon, Lynsey:
♥ = ?
posted by timeistight at 10:51 AM on October 16, 2002

Try that again:
&hearts; = ♥
posted by timeistight at 10:53 AM on October 16, 2002

What the hell are jelly nougats?


posted by Zulujines at 11:38 AM on October 16, 2002

Yep, them hearts are mighty tricky, Lynsey.
(I should know--my heart still belongs to quonsar's pussy)
posted by Zulujines at 11:41 AM on October 16, 2002

I guess that should read:
I ? quonsar's pussy
posted by Zulujines at 11:44 AM on October 16, 2002

Ha!
posted by Zulujines at 11:50 AM on October 16, 2002

thomcatspike, are you confusing your snarky butchers and boojums? How manxome is quonsar's pussy anyway? is it from cheshire? or is it something else...

Then a scream, shrill and high, rent the shuddering sky,
And they knew that some danger was near:
The Beaver turned pale to the tip of its tail,
And even the Butcher felt queer.
[later]
The Beaver had counted with scrupulous care,
Attending to every word:
But it fairly lost ♥, and outgrabe in despair,
When the third repetition occurred.
posted by stinglessbee at 2:37 PM on October 16, 2002

♥ It's always something... ♥ Thanks, timeis, I& hearts; you too.
posted by Lynsey at 4:47 PM on October 16, 2002

♥ you too
posted by Lynsey at 4:47 PM on October 16, 2002

mathowie recently fixed the "high ascii" or whatever it was called problem, and we seem to have been "little square box"-free for a fortnight or so now. but i noted that at the same time he seems to have disabled the hearts? and probably all other "cutsey" type characters. probably not a bad idea lest they become tiresomely common. all you get for your trouble is a question mark anymore. ah well! on a happier note, i see he fixed a lot of weirdness in the preview pane involving < and >, so it's much easier now to demonstrate things like <a href=, not to mention do kewl l33t coderz stuff in comments like
<attitude>
snarky remark.
</attitude>
posted by quonsar at 4:57 PM on October 16, 2002

Zulujines: brach's jelly nougats. god help me, i am become junkie. quonsar's heroin.

posted by quonsar at 5:03 PM on October 16, 2002

I don't think html can ever really be considered "l33t coderz"

And I'm glad, we're better than those kids.
posted by rhyax at 9:19 PM on October 16, 2002

Hmm, Shane...

Metafilter: "Just the place for a Snark!"
posted by hippugeek at 9:46 PM on October 16, 2002

*singing*

I'm leaving, on a JetTrain, don't know when I'll be back again...
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:54 PM on October 16, 2002

/me ? matt
posted by quonsar at 5:52 AM on October 21, 2002

/me ♥ matt, sorta
posted by quonsar at 5:53 AM on October 21, 2002