Linking to a Post?

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#1

Before, it was possible to construct a link to a given post within a thread by substituting the number of the post twice into a complex URL (which I always obtained by opening a random active thread with the go-to-last-post arrow and then replacing the thread number as needed).

Presently, a post address obtained in this way has the format http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2065279#post2065279 (this particular item URL to a post in the Pit thread “Why the Justice System Sucks”). One will notice a long string of hexadecimal numbers midstream of the URL.

My question is, can one legitimately substitute a post number, say 2039488, into that string and have it work, or does one have to have a particular hexadecimal following the “php?s=” entry, and if the latter, how does one go about getting the right hex number?

#2

You need the URL argument like “postid=” to specify the URL to VBulletin which gives you the right thread. You could just as easily do it with a threadid. You will note that if you leave the “#…” off your example, you just wind up at the top of the thread, rather than positioned on the article.

(Side note - the number seems to be decimal, not hex)

What the “#” syntax means is a link to a “named anchor” in the document, essentially telling your browser to scroll to that point. Two ways to get it:

1 - reply via quoting the article, and you will see the ID in the URL, for instance your article is 2065419.

2 - look through the source of the document, and you will find a tag like <a name=“postNNNNNNN”></a>. This is what actually tells the browser where to go via the # mechanism.

#3

For instance,

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113318#post2065486

Scrolls to my previous article in this thread, and I only had to add 1 number after cutting the URL I used to reach the thread, and using the “quote” button.

#4

Ah, interesting! When I copied that, it had http://boards/straightdope/com/sdmb/showthread.php?s= followed by a whole string of hexadecimal symbols followed by the #postid=2065279#post=2065279. It apparently parsed out the s=hexcharacters string when it posted as a link.

Thanks for the help!!

#5

Yeah, vbulletin elides text out of the middle of long links to display them - you can mouse over or follow it to see the unabbreviated syntax. I might have gotten around that by specifying the actual text for the link rather than just letting it pick up the URL, I suppose, but I was too lazy to find out.

#6

This question, along with many others, is answered in the technical issues FAQ.