h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Got an idea when I saw a link from n2g2 (Nowhere2Go2) which points to a request to unsubscribe, followed by a link entitled "Click here for excessive moderation" or something along those lines. The link will take you to Mark Moxon's personal space.
I looked at how they had done this and discovered that there's a "return" function which applies to certain objects within H2G2.
This return function works alot like a jump.cgi function on many websites, in that you can tell it to transfer the browser elsewhere. And it doesn't care where.
So, you can put a link into a conversation which links to the return function on H2G2. That's allowed because H2G2 is part of BBC online. We're only linking to another part of BBC. Granted, we are telling that part of BBC online to redirect elsewhere, but the fact remains that the link points to a BBC function on a BBC page on a BBC host in a BBC domain. I'm only linking to BBC material. It is a BBC script which takes a user outside of BBC online. An analogy would be for me to have instructions not to take you anywhere outside of England. Then I go and take you to Heathrow airport and you get on a plane to Australia. I haven't taken you outside of England. The plane took you outside of England.

So take a look at these:

[URL removed by moderator]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/FSB63314&return=http://news.bbc.co.uk/


I imagine they'll do one of two things:

Claim, with technical ignorance, that the link is actually an external link and continue to moderate out such things. Or -

Realise the fact that their own rules don't allow them to wipe out such links and just patch their software (written in C or cpp I think) so that you can't do that anymore. This is the more sensible option.

Anyway, if the above info does get wiped, I won't be posting it on h2g2 again since obviously they don't like it much and it'll land me in lots and lots of trouble.



Peace.

Freddy.

Oh well. Nice try. I take it that first URL was removed because it linked to something outside of BBC?

That's my guess.
Except, of course, that it didn't link to anything outside of BBC.co.uk - as I tried to explain in the posting.
I put in a second link which worked the same way as the first, but would ultimately end up at a BBC site, so that at least others could see how to construct it. To be honest, I half expected that to be removed, too.

Actually, I was just wondering about what you're allowed to link to.

The house rules do state:
"...we will remove all URLs from Conversations and Nicknames, except for those to bbc.co.uk sites (including h2g2)."
Where does that leave a link pointing to http://www.bbc.net.uk/ ?
It's exactly the same thing as http://www.bbc.co.uk/ - in fact you can get on H2G2 by going to http://www.bbc.net.uk/h2g2/ - it's just that you're using a different name for the same machine.
Also, does that mean that beeb.com is out of the question? It is run by the bbc, and has a BBC logo on it, but it isn't part of bbc.co.uk.
Ditto bbcworldwide.com
Ditto bbcshop.com - although I understand that this is a bit on the "commercial" side - the house rules do state:
"...if you are considering adding a URL to an entry, please make sure that it adds value and interest to the subject of your entry, and isn't, for example, purely commercial."

Anyway, I guess it doesn't really matter until such time as someone wants to do it; I'm just being pedantic now.

-Moderators: please note that in mentioning other BBC sites that don't end in .co.uk (except for the interchangeable .net.uk), I have taken care to avoid the H2G2 entry parser from turning it into a URL, and have only used the domain names. Please don't kill them off, as I've found conversations which have been there for a long time which put things in like this: www . bbc . co . uk to avoid being modded out, and which seemingly works, because it's still there - only it of course points to a non-bbc site.

Hi Freddy I'm just answering your question about BBC links over at the Moderation helpdesk http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F63567?thread=119244&post=1022167#p1022167. As to the rest of the posting, our view is that yes, I'm sure that there a loads of technical loopholes that could be exploited, but as you say it's irritating and non-constructive. Irritating the technical lead of a website isn't particularly good for the longevity of one's h2g2 account. After all some people are technically good, and others are technically *excellent*. You get my meaning? ;-) Peta

Lol, Peta.


Thanks.

I'd do a smiley, but I really don't know how. - except maybe

Thanks Freddy!

Check out the smileys page over at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/smiley

We'll soon have you - ing as well as the rest of them...

Freddy, your loophole seems to adhere to the letter of the law, but violate the spirit of the law. We just have to convince them to scrap that law and let us use URLs everywhere. I've tried reminding and convincing people that disclaimers like, "The BBC is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced" at the bottom of this and every h2g2 page ought to cover these situations, along with a little reactive moderation to get rid of people who post links to porn and morgue photos and republican party platforms. To get them to scrap their current law, we have to convince them that most users prefer the site to allow maximum freedom of expression rather than maximum sterilization for our protection.

Subcom, I *knew* it was going to get stuffed in some way or another, although tbh, I thought a software patch would've been a clever idea.
Much easier if people *can't* actually do something rather than go around telling them off and undoing it for them. Still, I guess that if maybe that rule about URLs gets trashed one day, the patch wouldn't be needed.
Funny old world.

And now an attempt at a smiley/emoticon/whatever: