IBJoel

Can you link me to an example?

Zorak

I've seen this multiple times too. It is not possible to show an example, because it is not a permanent property of the link; rather it is a transient bug introduced by something on the forum side.

When I have seen it:
- it affects literally all links in posts on the site
- it usually fixes itself within some relatively short period of time (not within seconds, but usually within a minute or three?)
- the exact same links which exhibited the problem, magically start working again, without the original post being edited

EDIT: e.g. reported back in March:

IBJoel

Thanks Zorak. We'll keep an eye on it, but I've been unable to replicate the bug and if it's on the order of a few minutes, that's not really a window in which tech could detect, review, and fix the problem. Is there any particular forum you might have noticed it happens more frequently on?

hailstorm

I imagine that they will just be pleased that they are getting more clicks, regardless of how they get them.

Maluku_Flyer

So you want to check who posted on a thread. Go to the replies column and click on number of replies.

The list with the users who posted pops up. Now you go to click on the number of posts next to a user name to have a look at his/her posts. You immediately get a message that you cannot make two searches within xx number of seconds and have to wait xx seconds. The window disappears again. So you have to click on the reply column again ... and don't click on a user name for some length of time. Which is definitely longer than just 15 seconds.

This bug has been around for quite while now.

IBJoel

I'll test this out, but is this honestly a combination of features that's used very often?

Zorak

(regarding links being broken because they seem to be rewritten as https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/![thread number]!/etc.)

When it happens, it affects links in all forums.

Now, as it happens, this reoccurred for me once in the last 24-48 hours, and again fixed itself within a few minutes. But I tried to do some black box poking around while this was going on, and there may (or may not) be a slight refinement to the above description.

I noticed that the particular link which was broken was a link to another FT thread. Specifically, the link in post #2 on this thread:

UAE inc. DXB / Dubai strict new medicine requirements Oct 2018

Under normal conditions, the forum software replaces that with the actual thread title, so the post text reads as "Already under discussion here Quick advice, please: _New UAE requirement to register prescription drugs online?_" (using _ to denote the link text)

When the bug condition exists, however, it reads as "Already under discussion here Quick advice, please: https://www.flyertalk.com/!threadnumber!/etc."

I certainly understand that if this problem fixes itself within a minute or two, there is no practical way to file a bug report and have a tech look at it exactly while that problem is going on.

However these symptoms seem specific enough that a developer with access to the source code could take a reasonable stab at figuring out the bug just by code inspection.

Even as a developer without access to the source code (unless some form of it is open sourced somewhere, I admit I've never really dug deeper into the origins of FT/IB), I would hazard a guess that:

* there is some internal representation of a FT post where links to other threads are stored by thread number
* at display time the software wants to fetch the actual current title of the referenced thread and render that into the generated HTML
* maybe when this lookup fails or times out or something, we see the buggy behavior

Kagehitokiri

it does not always fix itself.. sometimes i go back to an old post, click a link, and it dosnt work, because the forum has inserted something into link

this never happened (in this manner) before last update

sometimes may be related to editing of posts with links ?
when holding mouse over link can see the added "!" etc

related to how forum automatically reformats links ?

Zorak

Do you mean that you've found a post that exhibits the behavior on a permanent basis? If so, link to that post, please

Based on my observations, it is my strong hunch that the bug occurs at display time, not when the post is made. So how new or old the post is, is irrelevant, and a post where links were fine can be broken and then go back to fine again.

Kagehitokiri

i have found many such links

i think i see what you are saying, that it is not always like this, kind of random (when loading the page the post is on) i am not sure that matches my experiences, so i will start trying to pay closer attention. i do remember repeatedly editing posts because it kept doing it.

i think it is at tine of post.. because for example can see wrong link in thread, then click post number to open post in new tab, and when it opens the link is not wrong anymore.

Zorak

Do you have a post you can point to that exhibits the problem right now?

ernestnywang

Microsoft Edge user here, very frustrated with how things work now. Multi-Quote has not been working ever since the new FT is introduced. Everytime I try to go to the top of the page to view the Wiki on a thread that has Wiki, it will try to load previous pages of the thread (and slow down the speed). Recently, when I try to edit my posts, I will sometimes have to click "Save Changes" twice to get through. I know we are the minority here, but it has been a long while and I thought things will be fixed, only to experience more and more problems. Please help.

IBobi

I'm sorry about that -- it may be time to consider a new browser, as you will find Edge increasingly incompatible.

ernestnywang

Is this FT's official stand? There are still 4% of us out there: Desktop Browser Market Share Worldwide | StatCounter Global Stats

IBobi

It's as close to an official stand as you'll find -- my techs recommend chrome, mozilla, or safari.