Please use www.tinyurl.com
 

Hi all,

The Fodor's computer can't handle long lines of text.

They mess up the formatting.

When posting links longer than 30 characters, please copy and paste at www.tinyurl.com and post the tiny link.

This will make the floww of information much smoother, will conserve pixels and bytes, and will cause a lower increase in the entropy of the universe.

Thanks

((I))

How do you post a link of one thread into another?

<< ..and will cause a lower increase in the entropy of the universe.. >>

...and it will have an effect on global warming.

Which is either decelerating or accelerating, depending on when you use as your point of reference.

Interspersed, as it is, between periods of global cooling.

;)

Best wishes,

Rex

Hey Rex

<<...and it will have an effect on global warming.>>

I knew we are all very busy posting 'long lines of text' here on Fodor's, but enough to affect global warming?! :)

Kwren

Hi kwren

>How do you post a link of one thread into another?<

Right click on the title.
Left click on "copy link"
Go to wherever you wish to post the link.
Left click at the position you wish to put the link.
CTRL+V to paste the link.

((I))

Rex, you sly one.

((I))

I didn't say if the effect is positive or negative. Does posting long lines of text result in generating more or less carbon dioxide?

Sigh...

Oops... I did it again. I find it hard not to breathe.

The problem with using a "tinyurl" address is that there's then no indication of whether the address is some unreliable amateur web site or a reliable source. If people have to use a "tinyurl" address, they should indicate where it will lead: if, for example, it's information about a hotel, is it from the hotel's web site, the tourist board's web site, or some compilation that might be years out of date?

Good point, Geoff.

((I))

testing

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...een_name=kwren

Thanks ira (I don't have a right click button, so it took a little time to figure that one out too!)

they also can get lost and that company's servers go down at times.

Personally, I dislike tiny URLs and don't like it when people use them. It makes me just stop reading the post and I rarely click on them. I just find them annoying and uninformative. It wouldn't bother me as much (although I still don't want to click on them) if the person posting them gave some clue as to what they were, but they often don't. It's worthless if you printout a thread to save for future reference as hardcopy, also (which I often do).

I almost never click on a tinyurl. Sometimes when it is from someone I know well ,or when I know for sure what site it links to - that is one thing. But most of the time - nope.

When I use a tinyurl address, I usually say where it's from. Links to specific Amazon books or DVDs from the Amazon site are hopeless, for example, because the links are so long Fodors can't handle them.
I like tinyurls and will always click onto them if I'm interested in the topic and someone says what it's to.

Dear Kw,

YOU DIDN'T USE THE TINY URL AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!!!!!

:) :)

((i))

Ira - oh no! is that why it's not blue??? I just followed your instructions! :) Maybe you should have added 'count the number of characters' before pressing the 'post my reply' button ... I'm not very computer-literate (obviously, since I had to ask how to do this simple little thing in the first place. LOL) Did it do anything to the post besides change the color?

Kwren

P.S. Trying to figure out if you are yelling at me or smiling at me ((A))

If I'm at work, I can click on anything knowing I'm protected.

If I'm at home, there is no way I will willingly click on any tiny URL if I don't know the poster's name, as my home computer may be not adequately protected from viruses and spywear.

If the URL is long, at least I can Google-search to see if the website looks fine. With a tiny URL I have no idea where it may take me.

Should the important things in life be simple? Must we please the Fodor's computer? Is not the mystery of an unsuccessful link sublime? (Just playing with you because I'm going on vacation TOMORROW MORNING! -- not for long, though. Technical problems, so I am still stuck with a 12-week vacation backlog.)

I think both sides have valid points. I started to use www.tinyrul.com here recently to cut down on the width of my posts, and I've never had problems with tinyurl links here on fodors.com. Everytime I click on it, it's something relevant.

That's mostly because of the quality of posts here. I will be a lot more cautious if it's on other websites.

I think I will continue to use it here, but I will describe what it's linked to in my post.

I think two things:

First of all, Fodor's are being a bunch of prissy old maids for now allowing posters to create their own links or publish pictures. We do it routinely at frommers.com, and nothing bad has happened in the years I've been there.

Second, it would be trivial to fix the Fodor's script so that it shows the domain name as the hyperlink text and has the full URL behind it. So a link to

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156...28%3fie%3dUTF8

would show up in the post as http://www.amazon.com

This change would take (me) about ten minutes to implement.