Does Anyone Know How to Hot Link?

[Griking]

If not I really wish that some of you would invest the 30 seconds that it takes to learn. Let me explain

If you were linking to an eBay auction and just posted the link like this;

http://cgi.ebay.de/Valkyrie-Profile-PSX-US-FACTORY-SEALED-NEU-NEW_W0QQitemZ8253904892QQcategoryZ62053QQssPageNam eZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

it as you can see it screws up the screen proportions because it stretches the screen legnth as long as it needs to be to fit the URL on one line.

On the other hand, if you use a hotlinks the same link is changed from the monster you see above to something much more managable like THIS (http://cgi.ebay.de/Valkyrie-Profile-PSX-US-FACTORY-SEALED-NEU-NEW_W0QQitemZ8253904892QQcategoryZ62053QQssPageNam eZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem).

How do you do this you may ask?

Simple.

(url=webaddresshere)word that will show up(/url)

just replace all of the parenthesis ( ) with brackets [ ]

I'm not posting this to be an ass it's just that this is a pet peeve of mine in the same way that posting in all caps annoys some of you.

[XianXi]

+1

To make ICE, fill ice tray with water and place into freezer, wait until frozen.

One of my pet peeves.

[Darth Sensei]

On another forum I frequent when you hit the URL button it simply asks you for the site address and then for the text you want to display.

It's impossible to screw up.

[portnoyd]

Christ, do you ever shut up?

[Griking]

Christ, do you ever shut up?

:moon:

[Berserker]

I try to fix these kinds of links when I come across them here. If I have the time, I PM the person and explain to them how to make shortened links.

Of course, I don't condescendingly explain beforehand how many seconds it takes to learn, nor do I flash an emoticon ass to those who don't want to hear any of it. The first is simply a matter of preference, but the latter is enough to make me just lock it before it gets any worse. Different approaches I guess... anyway, point taken, now let's move on.