Hello MNHQ - a question about automatic links please?

[rhondajean]

Seems that quite a few of us are now having names of online shops come up as automatic links.

Eg(and fingers crossed these work!

Argos
Next
Marks and spencers
Wilkes
Toys r us

Can you confirm if this is a new addition to MN or are we all infected with something nasty?

Thankoo!

How about only underlining deliberate, user-intended links all the time? The affiliate links can stay only underlined when you hover?
One hyperlink colour, and you can skimread over the affiliate bits easily if you want to. They certainly need to be less attention grabbing/emphasised than poster's own links.

Who will tell the pedants?

I've not got any links yet, by the way.
I'm enjoying the freedom from it, and waiting for the inevitable, but for those who got it without warning, that's pretty poor form.

If I hadn't read these threads now, when it arrived, I'd have assumed it was malware and spent ages "disinfecting" myself (which on a work laptop, in the office, is rather embarrassing!)

Have to say, if I was looking at joining a new forum and saw this feature, I'd decide against joining as it suggests caring more about revenue than users. Now there is nothing wrong with caring more about revenue, the problem lies with letting your users know this.

Don't like it at all. But different colours would be better than what's happening now.

Mary, your argos with no capital linked on my phone.

Just because I know you are listening, I would like to say:

yes, I do think that it looks like you endorse the linked-to companies.

and no, I don't mind that you do it to get revenue. I'll love it the day you get that new server

but again please, can we make it so that the links are differentiated from those put into posts by the poster.

I know

Earlier non-capitalisation worked, now it doesn't. They must have fixed it during the 9 o'clock tweak.

I'm going to call it cuntingargos from now on.

And what Nagoo said.

I'm on the mobile site (not the App) and I can see the links on here. And I DID unintentionally link when I typed cuntingiphone without the cunting in front. And I can't even SEE that on the App.

I hate the fact that Wonga come up autolinked (sometimes)

Given that these people ate just about legal loan sharks, with a bajillion % interest and also the fact they seem to be piss poor in their fraud dept (people who never took out loams are being hounde)

Is thete any way of filtering these ? Cos Id bet Ds's piggy bank on the fact you wouldnt carry an ad from them

Thinking about the list of advertisers are they ones that MN would normally work with? Has anyone checked that Nestle works?

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

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

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.

tESTING THIS... Argos

?

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??

Sorry
Been flurrying about this evening. Not much to add at the moment it being the middle of the night and all, but just wanted to say thanks for the feedback, do keep it coming.

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.

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

Wronga is a bit off

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.

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

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

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