# Website linking question... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-linking-question/307893 "2005-06-11T22:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chefIL11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-linking-question/307893/1 "2005-06-11T22:23:10Z")
Hypothetically speaking (Not enough threads start that way!): Let’s say my friend has a poker website. Let’s call it straightdope poker board. It has the address of [straightdopepoker.com](http://straightdopepoker.com). Could I, (only knowing the web address) link another address to this? Say as a joke, I wanted [grossuglygirls.com](http://grossuglygirls.com) linked to his site, so I buy it with the intention of forwarding anyone who goes to this site to his site. Does he have to give some sort of permission in order to let me link this site to it? If not, as an outsider would I be able to link almost any name available to any website? So if I wanted to link [smokecrack.com](http://smokecrack.com) (even though I’m pretty sure it’s already taken) to a partnernership for a drug free america’s website, I could as long as [smokecrack.com](http://smokecrack.com) was available? If this doesn’t make sense, I apologize it has been a long day. Feel free to yell at me. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-linking-question/307893/2 "2005-06-11T22:27:49Z")
Technically, yes. Legally, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-linking-question/307893/3 "2005-06-11T22:39:10Z")
> [@chefIL11](#): > > So if I wanted to link [smokecrack.com](http://smokecrack.com) (even though I’m pretty sure it’s already taken)… Both [smokecrack.com](http://smokecrack.com) and [smokecrack.net](http://smokecrack.net) are taken. However, I just checked and [smokecrack.org](http://smokecrack.org) is still available. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-linking-question/307893/4 "2005-06-12T00:05:14Z")
> [@II Gyan II](#): > > Technically, yes. > > Legally, I don’t know. Not necessarily. If [straightdopepoker.com](http://straightdopepoker.com) is running on a single IP shared between multiple domains, then pointing another domain to that IP would accomplish nothing, as the server would not know which site to serve up. It would result in either a 404 or some default site, probably the ISP’s. ---
**Author:** ![chefIL11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-linking-question/307893/5 "2005-06-12T00:11:30Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Not necessarily. If [straightdopepoker.com](http://straightdopepoker.com) is running on a single IP shared between multiple domains, then pointing another domain to that IP would accomplish nothing, as the server would not know which site to serve up. It would result in either a 404 or some default site, probably the ISP’s. I’m sorry, I don’t fully understand. Can you please elaborate on that a bit more? Also, when I lookup websites and their IP addresses, could the IP be different for different linked sights? Like in the case of linking [uglygirls.com](http://uglygirls.com) to [straightdopepoker.com](http://straightdopepoker.com), would the two always have the same IP? Is it possible to have different IP’s? ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-linking-question/307893/6 "2005-06-12T00:25:13Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Not necessarily. If [straightdopepoker.com](http://straightdopepoker.com) is running on a single IP shared between multiple domains, then pointing another domain to that IP would accomplish nothing, as the server would not know which site to serve up. It would result in either a 404 or some default site, probably the ISP’s. This could be done with either URL framing, or just a URL redirect.