# Typing a website url

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typing-a-website-url/949464>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [August 24, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typing-a-website-url/949464 "2021-08-24T23:07:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Somethingwitty1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/somethingwitty1/32/8899_2.png) [@Somethingwitty1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Somethingwitty1)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typing-a-website-url/949464/1 "2021-08-24T23:07:33Z")

</div>

In the free association thread, I typed in M A T C H. COM. (without spaces). When I hit enter, I apparently posted a link to [match.com](http://match.com), which was not my intent.

Does it always do this?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [August 24, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typing-a-website-url/949464/2 "2021-08-24T23:20:01Z")

</div>

Yes, pretty much. There are weird workarounds: you can type "[match.com](http://match.com)&shy; " and get [match.com](http://match.com)­ , or you can type `match.com` to get `match.com`.

(` is the backtick character, usually found at the top left of US keyboards, below the escape key.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typing-a-website-url/949464/3 "2021-08-24T23:34:22Z")

</div>

I usually just type the word dot. For example, match dot com.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typing-a-website-url/949464/4 "2021-08-25T05:08:46Z")

</div>

> [@BigT](#):
>
> Yes, pretty much. There are weird workarounds: you can type "[match.com](http://match.com)&shy; " and get [match.com](http://match.com)­ , or you can type `match.com` to get `match.com`.

What is &shy; ? I’ve always used &nbsp; for the same purpose (more specifically, when quoting the previous post in full, add &nbsp; to prevent Discobot from deleting the quote of the post).

Oh, okay, I googled it myself. It’s a “soft hyphen”. I can see where it might not do the thing you want in some cases.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [August 25, 2021, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typing-a-website-url/949464/5 "2021-08-25T09:43:17Z")

</div>

> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> Oh, okay, I googled it myself. It’s a “soft hyphen”. I can see where it might not do the thing you want in some cases.

Yeah, technically the more correct thing to do would be to use `&ZeroWidthSpace;`, but that’s so much longer to type. I find it easier to think of the URL being too “shy” to become a link.