# Where does this link go? Can I suggest a new SDMB rule? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 26, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054 "2017-03-26T03:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/21 "2017-03-26T21:02:13Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > That’s quite a bit short of what the OP is asking for, assuming that poser was supporting the OP. And yet, the people the OP is complaining about aren’t even managing to clear that bar. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/22 "2017-03-26T21:09:52Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > I am really fed up with clicking on an otherwise innocent link, only to find that goes to either a youtube site or worse, a site with an auto-play vid. Most of the time it is merely annoying, but because I access the SDMB while I’m working (totally permissable) it can be a serious pain to close down a link super-quickly (noisy videos are NOT permissable). > > Can I suggest that whenever we post a link, we include a note as to whether it’s text only, a vid that needs clicking to activate or an auto vid? It would save many of us a lot of grief. > > Thanks You shouldn’t be surfing the net with the sound on, especially at work! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/23 "2017-03-26T21:19:58Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Can anyone please explain, for less savvy users such as myself, how seeing the address tells you everything you need to know about the link? Does every YouTube link mean its evil? Or not? What is the ‘tell’, you’re looking for exactly? Just so we can know too! You’re reading too much into it. What’s being said is simply that a mouse-over any hyperlink will display the URL in the info bar at the bottom of the window (in any mainstream browser that I know of) which is enough to tell you it’s a YouTube video (it will also tell you if it’s a direct link to an image, or a PDF). I don’t usually bother with video links and have avoided many through this simple means. And if the poster’s reply is something like just the word “this”, and “this” is a YouTube link, then by golly I’m usually out of there without ever having gained the benefit of the poster’s insight, so I would consider it poor posting style to not at least give a hint of what the video is about, except as a joke in a non-serious conversation. It’s not just the intrusive nature of videos, but the imposition of the time it takes to watch them. And don’t even get me started on popup video ads. Just don’t. 😛 Same with PDFs – the info bar will forewarn you it’s a PDF link. PDFs have been around a long time and many olde-tyme posters evolved the courtesy of flagging PDF links. I’ve seen posters question the reason for this or even ridicule it, but historically it goes back to the days when slower, more memory-limited computers might have struggled with PDF plugins which consumed a lot of resources (if they had a plugin at all) and a big PDF might slow down or even stall a browser. Today that’s not much of a problem any more – though I still often do it through force of habit – and though videos might still be annoying or problematic, it seems that some of those old Internet courtesies have also gone by the wayside. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/24 "2017-03-26T21:21:23Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Except it doesn’t always. All too often instead of going to the address that shows in the mouseover, it goes to Vigilink first, which may or may not redirect it to the intended site. As frequently reported, sometimes a link to a product at an online store ends up going to a different store selling the same product. Good point. I block viglink so it’s not a problem for me but I have read what a pain it can be. I’ll rephrase what I posted: the address tells you where you will _eventually_ be going if you’re lucky. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/25 "2017-03-26T22:54:21Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I’m usually tempted to report those driveby “CHECK THIS OUT” links as clickbait spam, but that’d probably get me in more trouble than the other guy. Why should you get in trouble? Has anyone ever got in trouble just for reporting a post? Even if the mods deemed there was nothing wrong and the report was silly? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/26 "2017-03-27T01:32:43Z")
The mods have gone on record as saying to report anything you think needs their attention, even if you think it’s silly. They appreciate the reports, even if they don’t act on every one. You won’t get in trouble if your report doesn’t pan out. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/27 "2017-03-27T11:27:08Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > On my phone, if I touch a link and hold down on it, the url pops up. And more often than not it’s a vigilink redirect. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/28 "2017-03-27T11:42:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ll second **Twoflower**. It’s easy enough to mouseover and see that it’s a YouTube video, but there’s no way of knowing _which_ video without clicking it. Context is often useless for narrowing it down: For instance, if the thread is “What’s your favorite song?”, and the answer is YouTube link that says “this one”, well, it’s presumably a video of a song, but that’s still extremely broad. > > iMDB links suffer the same problem. Amazon links, however, do not, because Amazon URLs include the title of the item (or at least, an abridged version of it) as part of the URL. I’ll third this. Its really annoying. It would be more respectful of people posting in those kinds of threads to either have the link say what they’re linking to (for example in a thread “What’s your favorite song?” the resonse could be: > [@](#): > > [Yesterday by the Beatles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo505ZyaCbA) or just answer in text and put the link afterward. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/29 "2017-03-27T11:49:22Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > And more often than not it’s a vigilink redirect. That’s why I use an adblocker. And opted out of VigLink. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/30 "2017-03-27T12:38:25Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > I’ll third this. Its really annoying. It would be more respectful of people posting in those kinds of threads to either have the link say what they’re linking to (for example in a thread “What’s your favorite song?” the resonse could be: > > or just answer in text and put the link afterward. Actually in Tapatalk when you embed the link I text, the content of the link hides the text. That’s why I always try to post the link after the text. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/31 "2017-03-27T13:16:11Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > That’s why I use an adblocker. And opted out of VigLink. Not always an option if you don’t own the device. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/32 "2017-03-31T08:09:42Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Not always an option if you don’t own the device. Can you at least [opt out of Viglink](http://www.viglink.com/opt-out/)? I think that works by cookies. It does seem to stop Viglink’s filth from contaminating my SDMB experience. ETA: Granted, it’s an annoyance to have to visit the opt-out link on every separate device and browser. But worth it to stop the Viglink infection. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/33 "2017-03-31T09:25:48Z")
This kind of innovation-killing regulation will end the Rickroll as we know it! ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/34 "2017-03-31T14:11:29Z")
Some posters include a YouTube warning with their links … I think that’s a good idea … something similar to the PDF warnings … just seems gracious to me … ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/35 "2017-03-31T14:36:37Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Some posters include a YouTube warning with their links … I think that’s a good idea … something similar to the PDF warnings … just seems gracious to me … PDFs (or browsers) seem to have improved top the point I no longer hesitate to click on a PDF link. Agree? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/36 "2017-03-31T17:21:09Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’m totally in favor of a rule that requires a brief description or some kind of obvious indication of what’s behind a link. I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/37 "2017-03-31T23:11:04Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > PDFs (or browsers) seem to have improved top the point I no longer hesitate to click on a PDF link. Using Chrome in a good computer, a PDF display is about the same as HTML. Pages with graphics and videos take longer to load than PDF. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/38 "2017-04-01T11:50:42Z")
The only pages that really annoy me, per se, are the ones that set their layout gradually, on the fly. You see this a lot with news stories: You click on the page, the page loads, and you start reading. Then a video finishes loading, and all of the paragraphs jump around to make room for it. You find your place again, and start reading, when all of a sudden here comes an ad, and everything has to shuffle around to let it in again. Keep reading and scrolling down, and something happens to scroll right under your mouse pointer and expands, and everything else moves to fit. Then, the video ad at the top of the screen finishes playing and recollapses, and everything jumps around in the opposite direction. Seriously, HTML has had the ability to pre-set the size of an object before it was loaded since all the way back in the 90s. Why can’t pages use it? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/39 "2017-04-01T19:54:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The only pages that really annoy me, per se, are the ones that set their layout gradually, on the fly. You see this a lot with news stories: You click on the page, the page loads, and you start reading. Then a video finishes loading, and all of the paragraphs jump around to make room for it. You find your place again, and start reading, when all of a sudden here comes an ad, and everything has to shuffle around to let it in again. Keep reading and scrolling down, and something happens to scroll right under your mouse pointer and expands, and everything else moves to fit. Then, the video ad at the top of the screen finishes playing and recollapses, and everything jumps around in the opposite direction. > > Seriously, HTML has had the ability to pre-set the size of an object before it was loaded since all the way back in the 90s. Why can’t pages use it? I find that infuriating too. I usually block videos but when I want to see something on a site and Allow All I get exactly what you’re describing. The worst is when you’re reading something and you hear a disembodied voice out of nowhere. Scrolling down the page you find that the culprit is some damned video that’s started playing right near the bottom. I just won’t go to some news sites because of this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054/40 "2017-04-05T23:25:22Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > Don’t click the links. This is akin to the “throw out the television” method of protecting oneself from TV-borne cultural degradation. It’s a method of avoidance, not a solution. I am 100% behind the OP on this, with due consideration to the possibility that the poster of a link may not always be aware that there is any automatically playing content on the page. Conceivably, couldn’t it happen that I might have my browser set to disallow any automatic streaming or playback, and I might not even be aware of some small video window that plays in the margin? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-link-go-can-i-suggest-a-new-sdmb-rule/783054.md?page=1)