I just want to ask WTF? What's with the condescending attitude? I have no clue what this thread is about, but it's apparently about automatic editing of posts for some reason... and you come back with a snarky reply to someone's concern. Bad form. :thumbsdown
Sweet! One of six! (How is that for condescending and snarky?) :lol
As for Flynn, he is extremely talented when it comes to forums and has offered tons of advice that I believe theRPF has actually utilized from time to time.
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't sought his advice in the past for problems.
Tom, you will get no arguments from me on that point. Flynn IS very educated and intelligent when it comes to a great many subjects (including forums) and he indeed CAN be a great asset to the site, when he chooses to be. But for me, that is the problem... Flynn IS very smart, much too smart to ask questions like this without them coming off as leading and pot-stirring.
With the new install of vBSEO are the members going to be held accountable for what it pulls and dynamically decides to inject into your post?
I almost feel like this is pointless to explain, because I feel this IS a pot-stirring thread and not a thread of sincerely inquiry, but for the sake of those, like Carsten, who don't quite understand what Flynn is talking about.
There are two primary aspects of a link, the link itself and what is known as the anchor text. The url link is self explanatory. The anchor text is the actual text you see on the page that is usually blue and underlined. The anchor text masks the link and allows you to give the url a more formatted and meaningful appearance.
There are two main ways to create links within vBulletin. First, you can just type a URL into you post and the software automatically recognizes it as a link and adds the appropriate tags to create a working link (GASP... the software is editing your post and has been for years! :lol) When links are created this way they are raw links and don't have any anchor text which is considered poor form.
The second way of creating a link is by clicking the link icon
in the menu bar. When you create a link this way (which is the preferable method but slower than just throwing the url into your text) you are given the opportunity to add anchor text to the link you are creating.
Because most members tend to use the first method, you have a lot of raw links with no anchor text.
With vbSEO (a pretty standard add-on to vBulletin software we installed as part of the maintenance the other night when the site was down) if it sees a raw link with no anchor text, it will pull the title of the page you are linking and insert that text as the anchor text. Simple as that.
If you add your own anchor text, even if that anchor text IS the raw link, vbSEO will (usually... it is a bit touchy if you leave the raw link as the anchor text) not replace it. It only acts if you leave no anchor text.
So, getting back to the non-issue at hand... Flynn's question was what will the staff do if someone posts an "innocent" link without adding any anchor text and vbSEO pulls the page title of the link and the page title happens to contain something unsavory... now Flynn and I have had quite a few conversations and he is no dummy, and he also has a reasonably good idea of how we operate, so I see his asking a very loaded question on a hot-button issue that is sure to get others (who are ultra-sensitive about any editing of their content) all worked up as nothing but stirring the pot because I don't believe he is truly looking for the answer I believe, given his intelligence and his past dealings with us, he already has a reasonable idea of what our response would be if an automated system that WE installed created an issue within a member's post.
That is about all I know to say. You can "bad form" all day long, but when we believe a thread is nothing but a pot-stirrer (and we believe this one is, especially since Flynn could have just as easily PMed the question if he were truly concerned), you simply are not going to get cuddles and kisses or a faux showing of civility.
