Q: Why doesn't the URL I put into my message work?
A: There could be several reasons for a URL link to not work correctly.
One possible reason is that there is some text, such as a comma or period, immediately following the URL text without any spaces. In this case, the forum software will include the extra text with the URL which will cause it to fail. The solution for this problem is to enclose the URL with BBCode link code such that it looks like the following...
Code: Select all
[url]http://www.thisisms.com[/url], [url]http://www.thisisms.com[/url].
Which produces the following text...
Note that both the comma as well as the period are outside of the URL brackets and will not be interpreted as being included with the URL.
Another reason for a link to not work correctly is that the URL is simply too long. One way around this problem is to use BBCode to create a formatted hyperlink such that the text of the post forms the actual link. The color of the text can be changed to make it stand out so that readers will know that a clickable link is present.
Here's an example...
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[url=http://www.thisisms.com][color=blue]message text[/color][/url]
Which produces the following text...
Another option is to shorten a long URL using a service such as
http://tinyurl.com or
http://snipurl.com and then copy and paste the shortened url into your message.
Note that sometimes a URL contains some peculiar characters, such as an exclamation point, parenthesis, or an apostrophe, which breaks the URL and causes the forum's software to truncate it rendering it inoperative. In this instance, embedding the URL with BBCode into the message text will not help but using the tinyurl or snipurl option usually will fix it.
For an alternative to using tinyurl or snipurl to fix a broken URL, please see this
FAQ which discusses how to fix broken URLs without going to an another website.
Note that for some browsers, in particular Mozilla based browsers such as Firefox or Mozilla, a long URL will not wrap and it will cause the entire page to spread out horizontally necessitating use of the horizontal scroll bar making it difficult to read the page. Using either the BBCode or the tinyurl option above will usually fix the horizontal scrolling problem.
Update: As of our Sept 2011 forum update, long URLs are now automatically shortened. Thus, URL length should no longer be an issue. However, characters that break the URL can still occur.
For further information:
Broken URL, Part 2
Broken URL, Part 3