# How Do I Link Posts? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 18, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236 "2003-10-18T21:00:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sunrise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@sunrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunrise)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/1 "2003-10-18T21:00:39Z")
I’m new to the boards and I have searched for this anwser, but can’t find it. Suppose I open a link that Lobsang wrote about naming his kitten and I think the information is pertinant to a new thread I am going to start in the Pit (about his post) How do I post that link in the Pit? Do I go to the Pitt and say NEW THREAD and work from there? I’m really confused. Please help. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/2 "2003-10-18T21:20:41Z")
[Noodles tells all](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1982344#post1982344). In ATMB, where a question like this ought to be. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/3 "2003-10-18T21:20:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sunrise \* > \*\*I’m new to the boards and I have searched for this anwser, but can’t find it. \*\* Try looking at [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1982344#post1982344) to see how to create a link to a specific post. Actually, read the rest of the thread, too. ---
**Author:** ![sunrise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@sunrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunrise)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/4 "2003-10-18T22:19:58Z")
Linking directly to a post within a thread To link directly to a post within a thread, modify appropriately the following URL [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=NNN#postNNN](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=NNN#postNNN) by replacing NNN with the postid. Here’s how you find the postid for a post: If you position your mouse button over the “quote” button at the bottom of the post, you should see a link appear in the “status bar” of your browser (usually at the bottom of the browser window), and the link will show the postid for that post. If that doesn’t work, you can press the quote button, and a new reply window will open. The URL for that reply window should show in the URL field at the top of your browser window, and the URL contains the postid for the post. Example: …postid=1684541#post1684541 I DON"T GET IT!!! I am supposed to hover over the “quote” button in the right hand corner and see something? Let me try again ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/5 "2003-10-18T22:23:43Z")
When your mouse is over the “quote” button at the bottom of the desired post, look at the bottom of your browser window, you should see a URL in the status bar. The postid is in that URL. Since this is a question About This Message Board, I’ll move it to ATMB. Off to ATMB. **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/6 "2003-10-18T22:24:47Z")
If you hover your mouse over the “quote” button in the right hand corner, you should see the postid number in the status window at the bottom of the window (at the end of a bunch of other stuff). ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/7 "2003-10-18T22:25:55Z")
Hey, a simulpost with a mod! Is that worth more points? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/8 "2003-10-18T23:09:54Z")
Sadly I have no kitten. whilst in the thread you want to link to cut the url from the ‘address’ bar in your browser (select it all and press ctrl-c) in the forum of your choice press ‘new thread’. within your thread type the following code [type name for link here]( paste url here) instead of ‘paste url here’ put the cursor after the ‘=’ and press ctrl-v I hope that is what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/9 "2003-10-18T23:12:12Z")
I don’t think he/she was asking about linking to a specific post. just a thread. Linking to a specific post is a bit darn complicated even for me. And it doesn’t always succeed. Sometimes following the link just opens the linked thread at the top. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/10 "2003-10-19T02:04:51Z")
**Sunrise** , if you’d like to link to a thread, follow **Lobsang** ’s advice. If you’d like to link to a specific post, forget the hover part above (it doesn’t work with my browser) and just press the quote button. That will take you to a Post Reply page with the post in question already quoted in the reply window. Look at the URL, which is displayed as the address. When I do this for **Lobsang** ’s post above, I see at the end of the URL a string that says postid=4126752. That number, 4126752, is what you want to replace the NNN with in Arnold’s example, _if_ you wanted to link to Lobsang’s post above. I didn’t find him naming kittens anywhere, although I did find **skeptic\_ev** pondering that recently. To [link to her thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=216533) I wrote: [url=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=216533](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=216533)”]link to her thread[/url] And to [link to her post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=4092706#post4092706) I wrote: [url=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=4092706#post4092706](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=4092706#post4092706)”]link to her post[/url] ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/11 "2003-10-19T02:07:23Z")
And I may be a caveman - I’m not sure that you need the quotes anymore, although it _does_ work with 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/12 "2003-10-19T02:43:12Z")
It works without them too. I never use them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/13 "2003-10-19T18:07:33Z")
Strictly speaking, you’re supposed to have the quotes in there, and I think that there are a few odd cases where it will work with the quotes but not without them. But those cases are rare, any more, and it’ll almost always work without. There was a time in the board’s history, though, that a single link without quotes would work, but if you tried to put two links into a post without quotes, it would scrunch them and everything in between into a single (non-working) link. So some of us old-timers got used to doing it that way, and can’t change now. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/14 "2003-10-19T23:40:32Z")
Re hovering over the quote button: old versions of AOL wouldn’t show the url that way - IIRC the area for it wasn’t long enough. An alternative in IE is to hover, right-click, and select “copy shortcut”. Then paste the url somewhere and proceed. Re using quotes: the [vBulletin FAQ](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/misc.php?s=&action=bbcode) does not require them: > [@](#): > > You can also include true hyperlinks using the [url] tag. Just use the following format: > > [url=http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/]Click here to visit the vBulletin forums I haven’t had any trouble not using quotes in URLs for ages. If anyone’s interested, I found a thread from 2001 about the then-new requirement for using quotes that confirms what **Chronos** said: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80263](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80263). I don’t know when that requirement was changed. [google](http://google.com) [google](http://google.com) [google](http://google.com) That verifies that quotes are okay, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/15 "2003-10-20T00:41:09Z")
Hey thanks for the tip, **rowrrbazzle**! As long as we’re just futzin’ around in ATMB, I tried that trick on the last post above, and I’m sure it will be of interest to the likes of **kabbes** and **Bill H.** that between 10-18-2003 06:12 PM and 10-19-2003 06:40 PM (~24 hours) there were 3080 posts to the SDMB. Slow weekend? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/16 "2003-10-20T01:46:37Z")
Are you kidding? I’ve been browsing the forums, Pit, MPSIMS, IMHO, Cafe, GQ, ATMB, and occasionally GD, for the past 3 hours. I feel like my head is going to explode, I could swear no-one is posting! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/17 "2003-10-21T01:22:29Z")
Like I said, the cases where “no quotes” fails are odd. I _think_ that I’ve seen some cases involving unusual characters in URLs (spaces, apostrophes, etc.), but I’m not up to experimenting right now. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-link-posts/208236/18 "2003-11-03T21:14:46Z")
Here’s a thread where double quotes didn’t help: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221128](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221128) There was a single quote in the URL. I fixed the URL by replacing the single quote with %27, its ASCII value.