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

Hi Ian,
Finaly made it here. Regarding Links, another person told me how to do it."find thread,right click on Title, go to location in message,right click & paste." I did this and posted what looked like the link, it had the www.bbc etc ending in mb ,which I presume is message board, followed by what appeared to be a thread number or code, but when I tried it it went to the message board, but not the thread I intended. The link you posted had the same address minus the thread number and yet went to the intended thread, which was not The one I intended, but an earlier post of your recipe. I do not understand why what appeares to be a more general MB address works, when what seems to be a more precise address does not.Enlightenment Please.
thanking you in anticipation. Panhandler

Hi Panhandler Sorry for the delay in replying, bloody real life gets in the way sometimes. I'm having to do some repairs/redecorations to our B&B house! Anyway, one key to making sure a link works is that it should be the full URL, including the http:// part. So to take a real example, and putting in a space after the http: so it all displays correctly your link was :- http: //www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbfood/F2670471? one one line and thread=3849423 on the next, with no mention of the message number (don't know what happened when you clicked on it to highlight it. - but I'll go look in a moment) My link was http:// www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbfood/F2670471?thread=2104255&post=24404680 so it gives sufficient information to the BBC servers to know exactly where to go. In your case, for some reason the address was split between the question mark and the thread. Does that make sense? If not, don't hesitate to come back and tell me to write in English!! As promised, I've clicked on the URL which relates to the thread (conversation) as shown in the address window, and I get:- http: //www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbfood/F2670471?thread=3849423 D'you see the difference. Pasting it directly gives:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbfood/F2670471?thread=3849423 abd that ought to work OK as a link. ATB Ian

Hi Ian,
Thanks for getting back to me. I am still confused, on the food MB, when a link is posted it does not show the full url. I located the thread using "my discussions". right clicked on it, and in my browser, Internet Explorer there is no Copy Link option only Copy Shortcut, maybe it`s me having a senior moment , but I can not see the difference you mention and surely it should not be that difficult, pressing the copy should copy the full address surely.Have patience I`m a silver Surfer, Panhandler

Hi me again I have solved it.The first time I only highlighted the title," perfect lasagne". I have just done it again but highlighted the entire title, three lines and it worked like a charm. I took the highlight the "title" to literaly. Thanks for your help Ian we got there in the end.
Panhandler

You're right, the Beeb forum software doesn't show the full link when it's posted. It's there, just not displayed That's why I added a space after the http stuff to make it visible - not knowing that in h2g2, the software _does_ show the full URL.

One problem is that I don't use Internet Explorer, so I can't really reproduce what you're seeing.

As for not seeing the difference,, where do you not see the difference? In my two example?

I'll try again, can you see a difference between

http://www.bananas.com
and
http: //www.bananas.com

There is one. But as h2g2 shows the full URL, all my care was wasted in my last post!

You asked
pressing the copy should copy the full address surely.
Yes it should, but it all depends where you seek to get the link from.

In the window showing a thread, each "article" has the heading "Message " followed by a number and then the posters name etc.

The "message 1" is a link, and if you right click on it while your cursor is a pointing hand, you should get a menu appear, one of the options is "copy link address" in my browsers, perhaps IE in their wisdom call it something else. That's how I get a link to a particular message, though it doesn't always seem to work perfectly!

Not all browsers copy the whole of a complex address perfectly, so when you paste it, you should check it's right.

Snigger - And don't go seeking after sympathy because you're old, I learnt to do all this at age 63!! (So I'm a silver surfer too)
ATB
Ian

Snap I am 63 also and trying to learn, in answer to your question yes I can see the difference, the space. When I h/lighted the full title it did copy the full url, and it worked, even though it did not show in full on the MB.
Thanks again Panhandler

Hi, our replies crossed while we were typing them.
Glad it worked.

ATB
Ian