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General discussion

What is permalink? I tried reading the entire

Nov 12, 2006 9:11AM PST

forum FAQ before asking. I was afraid that if I clicked on it I would get emails for the next few days telling me that someone posted in the thread, and wouldn't know how to delete it.

If it is in the forum FAQ's please advise and I will read them again.

Discussion is locked

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Was wondering the same
Nov 12, 2006 9:56AM PST

and you can Google for explanations....most seem to require other prerequisite knowledge. If you hover over it, you will see it matches the URL in your navigation bar. You can drag and drop it as a link. I presume this simplifies the process of saving it for later use.

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A permalink is a permanent link...
Nov 12, 2006 9:57AM PST
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PS: Left clicking the button will..
Nov 12, 2006 10:00AM PST

change the message border to bold lines.

Try it and you will see what I mean. It won't hurt anything. Really.

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Is that all it does is darken
Nov 13, 2006 8:27AM PST

the border, or is it as others said that it becomes a link??

If so, can I come back to it months later and use it as a link??

I hope that after they get all the bugs fixed and all the improvements implemented that someone will add an explanation in the Forum FAQ, and, of course, indicate if it can be removed.

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Ray, I am finding it sort of useless...
Nov 13, 2006 8:59AM PST

Left click on it does nothing for me by way of darkening the border. Right click as I understand it does a 'copy' of the link that can then be 'pasted' elsewhere. That looks like a simple copy/paste routine.

Win XP Pro SP-2
Firefox 2.0

Glenn

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No
Nov 13, 2006 9:28AM PST

There may be times during a discussion that you want to post a link to some other message in the forums. When doing so you should use that message's Permalink. Now matter how the thread changes that the message is in the Permalink will always take someone directly to that message. As threads become old it prevents broken links.

HTH,

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Not really...
Nov 13, 2006 10:19AM PST

It doesn't prevent broken links, but it does point directly to a particular post.

In Tree view if you wanted to point someone to that specific post you would just copy the URL from the address bar. In Threaded and Flat views you are viewing 15 posts at once, so if you copy-and-paste the URL from the address bar it will take you to that part of the thread but to the specific post...the reader would then have to read through potentially 15 posts to find the one you are referring to.

The Permalink is just a way of pointing to one specific post no matter which of the three views you are in. Just right-click the link, copy it, and then paste it elsewhere. The person's preferred Forum View will be used but that specific post will be the first one displayed on their screen.

Hope this helps,
John


P.S. The Forum FAQs are set to be updated but some complications have arisen so it may be a week or more before it's revised.

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Not really
Nov 13, 2006 9:30PM PST

If I remember correctly, links to posts in the old software pointed to post X in thread Y. If a post above post X got deleted it could cause a link to post X to get broken. The Permalink prevents that in that it gives you a permanent link to use for a post regardless of new posts, deleted posts or page view....

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It doesn't affect deletions...
Nov 14, 2006 12:03AM PST

In the old forums the links were in the format http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7598_102-0.html?forumID=51&threadID=218266&messageID=2321725 while they are now http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7598_102-0.html?forumID=51&threadID=218266&messageID=2321725#2321725.

Previously if a post was deleted any replies would be left unless we chose to delete them as well, either for being offensive or be orphans. (No longer making sense in the thread.) They would keep the same post number (every post is assigned a number in order, which is never changed or reassigned) and still be in the same thread (posts in threads cannot be moved), so the links to those posts would continue to work. Thus, the link would not become broken unless that specific post was deleted or the entire thread was deleted.

Even in the new forums the Permalink would be broken if the specific post it points to has been deleted...you would get the post not found error, the Cnet 404, or be asked to log in when you are already logged in.

In short, Permalink only exists to accommodate the Threaded and Flat views.
John

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(NT) Sounds like a bookmark/favorite to me.
Nov 12, 2006 9:10PM PST
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(NT) Forgot to say thanx to all that replied.
Nov 13, 2006 8:28AM PST