Question: What's the best way to link to a forum topic?

Hi all, what’s the best way to link to a forum topic? I can chop off all numbers at the end, so they seem to be redundant. But then, why does the thing insist on adding them back? Is this use supported?

For example, this topic can be linked as simply

https://forum.f-droid.org/t/question-whats-the-best-way-to-link-to-a-forum-topic

but I’m not sure if that is expected to break at some point, possibly after a forum update.

What do you mean with best way?

The shortest possible link to this topic is:

forum.f-droid.org/t/2859

Coffee wants a ref or a ahref block reference.
My url example
Click on Hyperlink symbol or {ctrl} {K}

Shortest link ^^
1

No, this is shorter: .

I think the link without the topic-id at the end will break if the topic title is changed.
Let’s try…

PS: I changed the topic title for a second and during that time your link didn’t work. “Access denied”

3 Likes

Thanks, that’s the answer I was looking for. I also did a little test of my own, and it looks like the forum entirely ignores the text bit if there’s a topic number present. I just linked to this thread via Question: What's the best way to link to a forum topic?

…which totally works! :open_mouth:

1 Like

My solution is the shortest, look the url generated, less characters.
Look url 1 above.

An even shorter link you get removing the topic from it: Question: What's the best way to link to a forum topic? - #4 by anon99929151 works fine, just try it – and that’s regardless of the topic changed or not :wink:

(PS: and the forum even fills in the title. If you look on the “raw text” of this post, you see all I put was https://forum.f-droid.org/t/2859/4)

(PPS: After posting I see that’s what @hotlittlewhitedog already posted as “shortest link” – a bit too short as associated with the text “1” so I missed it :rofl: So mine additionally has the part pointing to the exact post, not just the thread)

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tl;dr there are plenty of ways to link. None is objectively best. Each has its own unique advantages and drawbacks.

  • Topic link: https://forum.f-droid.org/t/question-whats-the-best-way-to-link-to-a-forum-topic
    • Pros: descriptive, memorable
    • Cons: longish, breaks if topic is renamed
    • Least suitable for long-term permalinking
  • Numeric link: https://forum.f-droid.org/t/2859
    • Pros: short, long-term stable (hopefully)
    • Cons: undescriptive
  • Full link: https://forum.f-droid.org/t/https://forum.f-droid.org/t/why-things-are-peanut-butter-flavored-not-peanut-flavored/2859
    • Pros: descriptive (although you can lie through your teeth as shown), long-term stable
    • Cons: longest and hardest to type

All forms can be made to link to an exact post by appending e.g. /8.

1 Like

Not to forget there is also the ?u=username you can add (it’s automatically added if you click the link symbol below a post) so link-clicks count for your share badges.

What we do at the Fariphone forum to quickly link to a topic that gets linked to often is to set up a unique tag and then you only have to enter #tag-name instead of finding the correct link.
For the person following the link it’s one more click then though.

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