# I noticed something else. . . You may have to 'cut and paste' links. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 4, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419 "2004-02-04T02:14:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/1 "2004-02-04T02:14:45Z")
Hey guys, given [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4513197&postcount=286) (which I isolated by clickin’ on the number of the post), if linking to other websites doesn’t immediately work for you, try this: 1. Highlight the link in question 2. Right click, and select properties 3. Highlight “Address (URL)”, and hit Crtl-C (or “Cut” for whatever system you are using) 4. Go up to the address bar and hit Ctrl-V (or "Paste), and hit Return. I’ve serruptitiously found that this works for a lot of the links that seem broken. YMMV. Tripler Just somethin’ I picked up, I thought I’d letcha know. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/2 "2004-02-04T06:04:13Z")
Now, _that_ trick is cool, **Tripler**. Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/3 "2004-02-04T23:31:12Z")
Hey, Tripler, that’s my post! Is there something wrong with the links? Worked fine for me, but this is weird. Your trick is cool, but who’s the problem from? Internet Explorer? Version 3 of vBulletin? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/4 "2004-02-04T23:36:21Z")
> [@Grousser](#): > > Hey, Tripler, that’s my post! Is there something wrong with the links? Worked fine for me, but this is weird. Your trick is cool, but who’s the problem from? Internet Explorer? Version 3 of vBulletin? You know, I don’t know! It happens intermittently. Yours just happened to be one of 'em I couldn’t open up. As far as browser, I have IE 6. It happens every now and then, in different forums, threads, and even posts. No rhyme or reason . . . But I think I found a potential way around it. And made you famous in two forums in the process. 😃 Tripler Didn’t mean to pick on you. You just happened to be the random subject of my test. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/5 "2004-02-04T23:59:12Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > But I think I found a potential way around it. And made you famous in two forums in the process. 😃 I noticed! And that’s pretty good! I hope these case adds some points to my growing popularity (at least here). What a pity that _here_ are no girls visiting the SDMB. But I love girls from USA and rest of the world, too! 😉 (see the [Show Yourself](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4516201#post4516201) thread again) ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/6 "2004-02-05T07:05:12Z")
A quicker way of copying the link is simply right click on the link (no need to highlight it) then select “Copy shortcut” (in IE) or “Copy link location” (in Netscape/Mozilla). ---
**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:** [February 5, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/7 "2004-02-05T20:01:24Z")
This problem has been around for a while. Here’s another example. Try this link to a short .wav file on my home page: [http://www.geocities.com/rowrrbazzle/Tolkien\_re\_Gollum.wav](http://www.geocities.com/rowrrbazzle/Tolkien_re_Gollum.wav) But paste the url into a new browser window and it works. Some sites block you from linking directly. I’m not sure why. I’ll speculate that on Geocities it’s a side effect of making sure people see that ad window and/or not allowing hosting of images used elsewhere to prevent excessive use of bandwidth. I think occasionally it’ll work if you just delete and retype the last character of the url. That doesn’t work for my url, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/8 "2004-02-06T02:21:01Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Some sites block you from linking directly. On one or two other non-SDMB boards I’m a member of, I’ve noticed they mention that many cited websites don’t allow “hotlinking”. I’m not sure how they do this, but GeoCities may be one of them. Hell, I’m not sure what “hotlinking” does except maybe keep traffic down? But it’s a neat trick I thought I’d share. Tripler Just a way around “hotlinking” ---
**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:** [February 8, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-noticed-something-else-you-may-have-to-cut-and-paste-links/227419/9 "2004-02-08T04:33:04Z")
COOL! I tried it with the link in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4525477&postcount=14) and it worked!