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Links in forum posts [message #1749111]

Thu, 01 December 2016 22:18

Mark Dear

Messages: 5
Registered: December 2016

Junior Member

So, today I posted my first forum message, in which I attempted to include one link to an askubuntu forum page, and another to an eclipse bug page.

Although the message previewed OK, and the links showed up in purple bold, when it came to submitting I got this message:

"You can only use links to eclipse.org sites while you have fewer than 1 message."

First of all, why did I only get this at 'submit' and not at 'preview'?

Second, why is it so bizarrely worded? I think what it means is:

"Your posts cannot include any links to non-eclipse.org sites until at least one of your posts has been approved by a moderator."

So, I could probably have left the bug report link in, but not the askubuntu one. But I would appreciate it if a moderator could confirm this.

The irony is this: the message I was posting ( in reply to Ed Merks) was trying to be as positive as I could about Eclipse while discussing some of the frustrations I have experienced while using it. It really doesn't help when even the forum exhibits such idiosyncratic - not to say arcane - behaviour.

Cheers MD.

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Re: Links in forum posts [message #1749114 is a reply to message #1749111]

Thu, 01 December 2016 22:41

Nitin Dahyabhai

Messages: 4435
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

It's an imperfect solution to an irritating spam problem that the moderators and webmasters deal with daily, and if I'm reading it correctly, it only looks weird because the number was bumped down from requiring 5 posts to just 1 having been approved before.

-The guy listed as the moderator.

_
Nitin Dahyabhai
Eclipse Web Tools Platform

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Re: Links in forum posts [message #1749234 is a reply to message #1749114]

Sat, 03 December 2016 19:46

Mark Dear

Messages: 5
Registered: December 2016

Junior Member

OK, thank you for the quick response, Nitin.

Please can I ask that the following happen:

1 - That a warning about this appears before the potential poster has even typed the first word. This should ensure that no-one wastes time putting links into a message on which they have likely spent some time making sure that their problem is clearly explained so that they can get the best help (like I did). (This should also cut down on the spam problem faced by the mods. I can't now remember if there is a captcha or similar to block bot postings.)

2 - That this is picked up at preview time, just in case the warning doesn't make an impression

3 - Most importantly of all, that the error message changed so that it makes sense in the plain English (and/or whatever other languages may be appropriate) used by normal people, rather than the bizarre 'error speak' in which it now appears. This is meant to be a newbies board, after all. Eclipse is hard enough to use without the help forum itself being so off-putting.

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