# Do you edit URL's when posting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061 "2018-06-30T17:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/1 "2018-06-30T17:34:56Z")
(Public poll) Do you edit URL’s before posting? Do you think people should? For example, I always edit out anything which follows a question mark, like changing this: > **[Trump administration may seek to detain migrant families longer than...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-plans-to-detain-migrant-families-for-months/2018/06/29/f9ffecb6-7bf7-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true)** > > A new court filing suggested the families could stay together, but in detention — a practice which could anger advocates and judges. To this: > **[Trump administration may seek to detain migrant families longer than...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-plans-to-detain-migrant-families-for-months/2018/06/29/f9ffecb6-7bf7-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html)** > > A new court filing suggested the families could stay together, but in detention — a practice which could anger advocates and judges. (I removed the “?\_twitter\_impression=true” from the end of the link.) I especially do this when posting a link to a searched thread when the “highlight” tag(?) is used, for nothing is more irritating than reading a cite where all instances of the same word are in bold-red. Just wondering who among us is this anal, er, polite. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/2 "2018-06-30T18:04:11Z")
Definitely. There’s even a practical reason: that junk can include tracking information. Though I do note simply removing everything after the ? is not always viable. You have to look at whether it looks important, and test the link to make sure it still works. It helps to know the anatomy of a URL–that the ? introduces options, each separated by &. So you can remove the unimportant options. For example, Google Image searches need the q= part and the tbm=isch part (means Image search), and those must be separated by &. So a proper image search URL is [https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=cecil+adams](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=cecil+adams) . I did not include the long tracking info. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/3 "2018-06-30T20:03:36Z")
I try to clean them up, removing referral links and tracking data and such. I’ve given up on trying to clean up the tangled mess that Google URLs are now. For instance, I just googled _screwed up url_, and the link for that is this: [https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=deE3W8zSIIPajwTcyosY&q=screwed+up+url&oq=screwed+up+url&gs\_l=psy-ab.3...682.4112.0.4679.16.10.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..16.0.0.0...0.DesvBsSOjtA](https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=deE3W8zSIIPajwTcyosY&q=screwed+up+url&oq=screwed+up+url&gs_l=psy-ab.3...682.4112.0.4679.16.10.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..16.0.0.0...0.DesvBsSOjtA) sometimes it even mentions the browser used in that mess. I swear that Google links used to be much cleaner. (ETA: I checked the box to _not_ parse that into a hotlink, but it did anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/4 "2018-06-30T20:18:39Z")
I voted NO, because I’ve never noticed any issues with links that I’ve posted. I always click on them after I post to be sure they work, but I have not noticed any question marks or highlighted text anywhere. That said, I’m not certain I would notice question marks or highlighted text or think that would bother anyone. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/5 "2018-06-30T20:46:27Z")
I don’t edit unless it’s a Wikipedia link that gets screwed up for some reason. Parentheses in the link will do that sometimes. I preview my posts that have links in them. If the link takes me where I wanted it to go when I click on it, I assume it’ll work for everyone else and that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/6 "2018-07-01T00:29:31Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [screwed up url - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=deE3W8zSIIPajwTcyosY&q=screwed+up+url&oq=screwed+up+url&gs_l=psy-ab.3...682.4112.0.4679.16.10.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..16.0.0.0...0.DesvBsSOjtA) Most of that can be removed. For a regular search, all you need is the q= part. So it shortens to [screwed up url - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=screwed+up+url) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/7 "2018-07-01T23:22:46Z")
Never knew I could do that. Other than breaking links that have the potential of being NSFW I never edited anything in a URL. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/8 "2018-07-01T23:47:12Z")
Always, I try to get links down to the bare minimum needed. That includes links to SDMB threads. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/9 "2018-07-01T23:47:15Z")
I almost always scrape off any extraneous info from links I post. Aside from the occasional tracking data it just annoys the hell out of my OCD subroutine. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-edit-urls-when-posting/817061/10 "2018-07-02T11:04:39Z")
I usually obfuscate them, [this link, above](https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/national-security/trump-administration-plans-to-detain-migrant-families-for-months/2018/06/29/f9ffecb6-7bf7-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html?__twitter_impression=true&noredirect=on).