Hello MNHQ - a question about automatic links please?

Netmums

Very clever Trills [approving]

We could have some fun with this .

Surely it should be Mumsnet

Excellent Chops.

May I add: mumsnet

Oh. My phone underlines things. Have I not noticed underlining before?

Hmm. Mary your one is underlined.

Sainsburys
sainsburys

eBay

Boden

Argos

Unless MNHQ do the links in a different colour there is scope for shenanigans. Like this link to Sainsburys

All right, now that truly is weird. Borden does NOT link on my computer. Is that because I am in a different country? Or is it because I run MN CLassic? Or any other random variation?

Most peculiar.

I would pay too. Might not be enough, but I would. I guess not everyone would and that causes problems.

I do understand you need revenue. But there are other ways.

actually, that would lose you traffic

I would happily pay a yearly fee. But not if the intention behind this (not to mention the availability problems of the site, which goes offline more regularly than any other I visit) was to induce me to do so.

I also find it hard to believe MN did not consider whether the links would be regarded as endorsement. This has been poorly handled.

I wonder if LaQueen's M&S Shit Uniform thread is still in Chat? It'll be all sorts of pretty colours if it is

Actually the more I think about it, I'd rather PAY a yearly fee to have an advert free MN.

maybe we will all have to invent mispellings to avoid the hyperlinks! Woden, Arjos, Fesco, etc

I don't like them. It does feel like we as posters are personally endorsing a website

Also, it's is just like those awful viruses that are around that highlight random words. My first thought was that MN had a virus, and I think others might think that too.

I think it cheapens the forum too. what next - pop ups every time we click?

I've not experienced any slowing down at all. I do feel it is a shame though that every money making revenue has to have such a negative effect on the forum. I appreciate that MN is a business foremost but is such an intrusive scheme really necessary? I can't help but wonder if MN is just being greedy.

I think there should be an option for posters to opt out of the scheme. Otherwise I guess people will be stuck with boycotting it by spelling out the words.

Woe-den DOES work, it's worked on one of my scientific speriments.

Wronga is a bit off

SeventhEverything - there is a way to differentiate but it's bloody tedious and probably only possible on laptops/desktops, not phone things - you R click on the link and Inspect Element - then it tells you a) whether it's an affiliate one and b) what the actual link name is. Bloody tedious, like I said. But possible.

Glad I've found this - explains why someone appeared to randomly link to e-bay on a thread I was reading - couldn't understand what they were linking to (e-bay top page)

I agree with several other posters - it needs to be differentiated from intentional links somehow, different colour, no underline, highlight the whole thing - just something - and I also agree that it does look as though you're endorsing the sites/companies that are auto-linked.

I'm still that Boden doesn't work but Ann Scummers does, mind.

Don't understand. Is it where people have seemed to link to some shops at random? Have seen Boden linked to.

Have you noticed the 'back button' doesn't always work? Now there is a Google 'double click' thing headed there??

tESTING THIS... Argos

?

The Wronga one is not on, HQ.

IMO if you wouldn't run (or continue to run) an ad from a particular company that doesn't 'sit well' with MN's 'ethos' then that same company shouldn't get hyperlinked in a post.

Poor form.

And in my post too. Really disappointed by this MN :(

Wonga auto-linked for me in your post Valpollicella. FFS