Links are broken when threads are merged

[JohnT]

Sent the following link about 40-odd times to various people, tweets, LinkedIn messages, etc. Because the thread was merged, the link is now broken:

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rush-limbaugh-has-died/933140/93?u=johnt

The new link is:

Rush Limbaugh, you are dead to us

There have been times when I wanted to write about Limbaugh, and it seems that time has arrived. My relationship with the man is complicated – once a devoted fan, now I recognize him as emblematic of a virulent, whiny strain of modern conservatism, which… interestingly… is showing its culmination here in Texas on the very day his soul is consigned to Hell. One thing which has never received the sort of attention I expected is the impact of 1990s Atlanta on the current conservative cultural land…

So I don’t know if y’all have the ability to see if people are linking to the page, but if you can, and you see that badges are being earned for sharing, don’t merge the threads. I mean, we could have handled a week with 3 Limbaugh threads, to be honest. If one thinks that the IMHO thread is Pitty, then do some moderation.

[gnoitall]

@JohnT

do some moderation.

Putting it in the Pit where it belonged from the outset is moderation.

[JohnT]

There have been instances where controversial figures have had multiple forum-specific RIP threads. Thatcher was one, IIRC.

[gnoitall]

Leaving aside the moderation discussion (which is more ATMB that Site Feedback), it is unfortunate that a merge strands an external link. I wonder if Discourse has some method to place a forward redirect?

[codinghorror]

Note that the stub topic has several links in it directing the user to the correct location.

The topmost link (also a merged stub) similarly links to the topic. A sufficiently motivated user should be able to find their way to the destination topic, the final merge destination for these 2 other topics.

You bring up an interesting point though. Perhaps if there are zero posts in the topic, and it is closed, we could auto-redirect the user to the topic in the last moderator action

[JohnT]

I mean, kinda? To someone unfamiliar with the SDMB, how would they know which of the links to press, other than context? Also, should I identify which of my friends and family are ‘sufficiently motivated’ before promoting the SDMB?

[codinghorror]

I hear ya. I do think a motivated user would scroll to the bottom, see the “SPLIT THIS TOPIC” notice and click the destination link… but the argument for auto-redirecting to the target is a strong one!

[JohnT]

Yes, but I’m promoting my post within the thread, not the thread itself. Going to the top of a 300-post thread isn’t going to get even the ‘motivated reader’ to scroll through all that to find the message I’m promoting.

[codinghorror]

True – this is a deep link to post #93 in topic #933140

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rush-limbaugh-has-died/933140/93
                                                         ↑      ↑
                                                         topic  post

That number (post #93) would shift down in a merged topic, depending on when it was merged, and how many posts already exist in the destination topic.

One thing they could do is search for your name in the topic…

I’m not sure we retain a mapping of old post IDs to new post IDs in the merged topic though, let me investigate.

[codinghorror]

It’s also possible to filter a topic by a specific user, like so, click or tap on their avatar then select the “{x} posts in topic” button:

Sorry about the broken link, I’ll see what we can do to improve this in the future.