Skimlinks on Talk

[AmyGMumsnet]

Hi folks,

Some of you might have spotted a few more links in discussions across the site - this is because we're testing out a programme called Skimlinks, which auto-converts some of your brand mentions into links.

This makes it easier for you to have a look at products that other MNers happen to mention on the boards, and, if you decide to make a purchase from one of these links, Mumsnet benefits from a small commission.

Thanks all - let us know if you experience any issues that you think might be related.

MNHQ

I saw iPad do it yesterday...

Not today though, apparently

It has done it Beyond- wants me to buy one from Currys apparently.

Ah weird - it wasn't showing when I posted my second comment, but now it is.

If it were a truly smart link it would know my iPad is on contract with EE

The stupid thing is that it doesn't pick Currys up.

The stupid thing is that it doesn't pick Currys up

As far as I know the way it works is that you pay them to match a certain phrase to a certain website. So Curry's doesnt show up because they haven't paid for it to. This could be unwise because eg Argos could pay for a Curry's link to point at their site.

If someone was smart they would buy the phrase AIBU to point at a gin site, or "judgey pants" to point at M&S

The links won't necessarily point at something relevant, it all depends what has been paid for.

I noticed the words mobile phone linking to the provider that's alleged to be rather lax with its tax, in another thread.

Hi folks

Thanks for all your comments - here's a quick update on where we're at.

We've made sure that Skimwords won't appear in sensitive topics, and as requested they're now displaying in a lighter blue, to distinguish them from links posted by other MNers.

We've also adjusted the density at which Skimwords works, so there should be fewer instances of phrases like 'fuel pump' linking to car parts sites.

Thanks again for all your feedback - as Justine said up thread, we're going to give this a bit of time to bed in and then take another look. It may be, as with previous changes on MN, that this takes a bit of getting used to, but feels less intrusive over time.

Thanks all

MNHQ

Mentions of car parts will, however, continue to link to car parts sites...

Oh the irony of the phrase "car parts" turning into s link in your post.... :o

TBH, I think this might reduce the time I spend posting on MN. I think the random links are awful.

Argos Argos Argos www.argos.co.uk Argos

just playing with it!!

What's wrong with the middle one?!

What I object to with this is that I can't opt out.

I know that if I write Sainsbury's, it will turn into a link. So I can avoid this if I want to, by typing S ainsbury's.

But what I don't know is that seemingly random words also turn into links - like car parts, or as I've seen on another post, single mattress. And so I can't avoid that.

Ah, this explains why the parent and child thread in AIBU went a bit mad as I thought someone was linking to spam > blue badge holder < for a second

ooh a lovely leather blue badge h older. Nice.

There's two incidences of the same (non-brand) phrase being turned into a link within the first four posts on this thread.

I saw that - co at hang ers and gra bber thing y. Surely, they must be checkable in preview at least.

The thing that's just annoyed me is if I were to accidentally tap on one of the skim links such as the car parts one, and I mainly use MN from my iPad, it automatically opens my eBay app then farts about then opening the relevant link in Safari. Why should I have to amend my browser settings to prevent apps opening because of skimlinks?

That's a good idea @SwedishEdith.

Can this be done, MNHQ, @KateMumsnet?

As a potential money stream for MN, to keep the site going, I find Skimlinks pretty unobtrusive and better than a lot of alternatives. Good idea, even. And it's amusing if I sign in to read about the doctor who was brusque with someone.

Alas I think not BIWI - but I will double check.

It's a bit pointless if the links that pop up have no relevance to the subject of the post - they only serve to annoy people, surely something that advertisers would want to avoid.

So lljkk's link should only be a link to the Amazon Doctor Who page if it was 'Doctor Who' (with capitals?). Similarly, there's one in the current homework thread, where 'she gives us weekly sheets to fill out' gives a link to the magazine US weekly.

Also, just out of curiosity, you have links for both Argos and Amazon on various pages - so who or what decides that 'Doctor Who' goes to the Amazon site, rather than the Argos one, which also has a page for doctor-related items?

I notice by the way, that the link doesn't follow if you copy & paste - I copied the quote from the homework thread, and it's removed the link!

Also, putting quotes round 'Doctor Who' has stopped it linking....

I'm absolutely hating the skimlinks. It's not immediately obvious that they are ads and not a normal link provided by posters. It's also too easy to accidentally click them. I hope MNHQ don't think that the high number of clicks means that posters are actually interested or welcome the random links.