PSA: How to link users & communities so it doesn't break for other instances
PSA: How to link users & communities so it doesn't break for other instances
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15953
Hi all!
So, I'm assuming everyone has seen links like https://beehaw.org/c/news and clicked through to find it doesn't work right because it's a different site (I'm assuming a different instance here).
Well, I just stumbled across an interesting feature: if you enter a link in the following format, it works for everyone regardless of instance of origin:
[News](/c/[email protected])
[My User](/u/[email protected])
You're welcome!
Because of how fragmented this platform is, there isn't a universal answer. Some links will work in one client but not another. Fixing this will require a lot more coordination than is currently happening.
Thanks for this post, links have been confusing me. And actually I'm finding the opposite of what you said - that first link (https... etc) works fine for me in Jerboa. But the others try to open in a browser and fail. Very weird.
If you don't mind, I'm going to try testing some links here:
https://lemmy.world/c/football
Very weird - all of them open in a browser, even the one that seems to have the same format as the OP (and that one opens in Jerboa). Hmmm...
I think the universal link only changes the community to your instance, but not much more than that. If the community isn't already connected to your instance, it won't work, but once someone connects it, it will work I think, wish there was just one easy way, but [email protected] is probably already connected, so that's why that one works and not the others. May be a problem, since most of these are new communities, so I'm just going to use both ways for now, until there's a better way
You can link directly to the local version of a post
Good catch, when I cross-posted, it automatically links to the original instance, not the local version, and I never changed that part
I keep wondering what's the official way to link. I've seen these you're showing, but also [email protected] which, as shown here, can automatically be converted into a web link format.
And then individual posts? If you crosspost, it shows just a web link again.
I'm not exactly sure what the best way is, but the example you showed there sends you to the Beehaw site, but the formatting mentioned in this crosspost would make accessing the community, regardless of your instance, in this case lemmy.world easier, and would just make it easier to subscribe and view communities universally.
The formatting does not work in the web link field though, so I just use the original link in the web link field and put the universal link in the body field.
I'm not really sure if there's an official way to link on Lemmy though at the end of the day
If you start typing ! and community name, it starts autofilling matches (at least in browser). So I'd assume the ! for coms and @ for users would be the official way, and I've seen admins use it, but it's not ideal and kinda inconsistent. Maybe the devs will clean it up officially.
Frankly I'd be fine just doing c/ and u/ like like on Reddit with automatically changing to links, just with @ for instance.
you just saved me so much frustration!
This is kind of an annoying feature of this website, like I don't want to create a separate account just to check out another community? It can't get ported here?
You don't have to create a separate account to participate.
If you click the "News" and "My User" links above, they open content from beehaw.org and reckless.dev inside whatever Lemmy server you're curerntly using. Your account is on lemmy.world, so I'm assuming that's where you're browsing. Note the first URL becomes
https://lemmy.world/c/[email protected].Now view this post on beehaw.org and look at News link. It's
https://beehaw.org/c/[email protected]instead.This post is about how to format links to communities and accounts so they're transformed that way.
Yes but I need to search where that community is first and then what the search is correct? For example maybe there is a r/rance community, maybe it's on the French language website, I don't know. I have to search on the German search bar first to find the result, then go to where the community is and find that search thing.
While I understand the benefits of ferated servers, I think the inherently fragmented nature of the infrastructure is the biggest hurdle to the adoption of (for e.g.) Lemmy and Mastodon as replacements for Reddit and Twitter.
There is an extra layer of complexity, and the less tech-savvy users who want a simple process to follow diverse communities across many instances are going to run into issues. That group likely comprises the vast majority of potential users.
Exactly!
Do you know if there is an equivalent for linking posts and comments? Haven't found a solution for those yet.
No, I don't think there is a way currently, the best solution is just to link it on the instance you are on, don't think there is a way to do it across instances