KNOWN BUG: filter injects then rejects rel=nofollow into html *a* tags

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topsemag55

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#1 topsemag55
Member since 2007 • 19063 Posts

Original Topic: Forum software not accepting HTML code for links If you use the HTML code to insert a link, it gives this error - "- Tag a may not have attribute rel" Also it changes the first part of the code in your post from "a href" to a rel="nofollow" href.

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EDIT BY STAFF: Bug reported and currently in testing

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verbtex

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#2 verbtex  Moderator
Member since 2006 • 9196 Posts

I'm noticing the same thing, but it's only happened in the past 5-6 hours for me. I hope this gets resolved soon. :(. I could type a href coding in my sleep.

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verbtex

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#3 verbtex  Moderator
Member since 2006 • 9196 Posts

Thanks to michaelP4 who has presented this temporary work around for the time being.

Try using the template in the example below: GameSpotGameSpot You can test it out by editing your first post, and instead of clicking submit, you can click Preview, to preview exactly how the post will be displayed. Additionally, you may also find this guide helpful.


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fabz_95

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#4 fabz_95
Member since 2006 • 15425 Posts
The fix is good but I hope the problem is sorted out soon.
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topsemag55

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#5 topsemag55
Member since 2007 • 19063 Posts
Thanks for the workaround fix, Verbtex.
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DeX2010

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#6 DeX2010
Member since 2010 • 3989 Posts
The fix doesn't work for me :/ Are there any other work arounds?
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michaelP4

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#7 michaelP4
Member since 2004 • 16681 Posts
The fix doesn't work for me :/ Are there any other work arounds?DeX2010
Not that I can think of. That workaround I use all the time, since I actually don't use the editor. It should definitely work. Perhaps if you're having problems with it, you can see this guide for more info. EDIT: I had a look through chickn's guide, and I found this other way, but I've always found this way harder to do (and rarely use it). I'd imagine it still works, but in essence, it's really the same as the one I provided, but (imo) a little harder to do. I tried posting it, but I can't seem to post it for some reason, but the other method is in chickn's guide, 2nd post, entitled "How to make links". May try getting it to post later.
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topsemag55

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#8 topsemag55
Member since 2007 • 19063 Posts
The fix doesn't work for me :/ Are there any other work arounds?DeX2010
It works for me, but I have the Editor turned off.
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MuddyMaestro

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#9 MuddyMaestro
Member since 2009 • 10351 Posts
Yesterday I checked the href code under the union format, and it was working properly, but then earlier today I tested it again and it was returning it with errors. However, unlike on the wide format, it wasn't modifying the coding by adding the rel="nofollow" , and would return the same text as you sent it to be previewed. At the moment, it is working once again, but it is strangely inconsistent on the union forums.
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Metamania

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#10 Metamania
Member since 2002 • 12035 Posts

[QUOTE="DeX2010"]The fix doesn't work for me :/ Are there any other work arounds?topsemag55
It works for me, but I have the Editor turned off.

How do you turn on the Editor?

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topsemag55

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#11 topsemag55
Member since 2007 • 19063 Posts

[QUOTE="topsemag55"][QUOTE="DeX2010"]The fix doesn't work for me :/ Are there any other work arounds?Metamania

It works for me, but I have the Editor turned off.

How do you turn on the Editor?

Hover over your Profile name, click "settings" then "Forums", then check the WYSIWYG box and click "Apply Changes". Uncheck to turn it off.
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mjc

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#12 mjc  Moderator
Member since 2004 • 12723 Posts
The manual work around works for me, but I have some pretty large threads I need to edit which makes this a nightmare :(
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#13 gmax  Moderator
Member since 2005 • 6865 Posts
Wow. So now the content filter is injecting a completely unnecessary attribute that it won't accept. Outstanding. I usually include a target attribute in my html a(nchor) tags, but I usually put it after the href. It seems like switching them around might also provide a workaround at the moment, but it only seems to hold if there is no other html nearby. So, for example, this link to eBay seems to survive the content filter mixmaster as long as it's well separated from any other html, and it actually seems to form a working link. If it survives the code tag, that looks like this: eBay There's no reason that that particular attribute ordering should be necessary. As a wild guess, however, this does give the impression that the injection of the rel="nofollow" attribute seems to be sort of an allergic reaction to the specific tag/attribute sequence a href, which, of course, makes absolutely no sense. The very existence of rel="nofollow" comes across as hopelessly ridiculous anti-SEO cruft anyway, and if there's really any concern about user-submitted content being used to drive up page rank somewhere it should probably be addressed in some other way. Or, if someone somewhere is convinced users really need to be required to waste character count on anti-SEO html attributes, the content filter and its error messages could at least be adjusted accordingly.

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Metamania

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#14 Metamania
Member since 2002 • 12035 Posts

[QUOTE="Metamania"]

[QUOTE="topsemag55"] It works for me, but I have the Editor turned off.topsemag55

How do you turn on the Editor?

Hover over your Profile name, click "settings" then "Forums", then check the WYSIWYG box and click "Apply Changes". Uncheck to turn it off.

I'll check on my settings now. Thank you! :)

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#15 Stevo_the_gamer  Moderator
Member since 2004 • 49568 Posts
Manual work arounds are giving me issues too--this is kinda a nightmore when editing threads. :P
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Sandulf29

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#16 Sandulf29
Member since 2010 • 14330 Posts

This has been giving me problems in wide layout. I always use HTML code for linking (you know "a href" one) but it doesn't see to working lately. haven't given BBCode a try.

Okay test link

EDIT: Okay BBCode seems to working fine. hope i get to use HTML again, I usually prefer it.

Hope this is fixed soon.

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super600

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#18 super600
Member since 2007 • 33103 Posts

I found another fix for now and I'll use it for my hype thread.I just ulinkified the link I'm posting using the editor.

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#19 The-Apostle
Member since 2004 • 12197 Posts

I've noticed this on the editor. :(

EDIT: Let me try. http://www.gamespot.com

Huh... A good workaround if you're using the editor is to use the url tags instead of clicking the link button. Still, I miss the link button. lol

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Mewi

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#20 Mewi
Member since 2006 • 386 Posts

I get a similar error whenever I attempt to use copy and paste... This is an issue with copy and paste I think... :S

Also when making a list of like more than 10 text lines, it kills everything else and only shows the 10 first lines :/

It happened to me with no links involved. There was a quote tag however quoted within the text which may have glitched the HTML?

Keep in mind I use CTRL + C then CTRL + V

On that note, gamespot has one of the most frustrating forum editors ever... just kill HTML options and stick to BB code... would GREATLY help.

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#21 trastamad03
Member since 2006 • 4859 Posts
I think it's time Gamespot gets a forum Overhaul.
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#22 Bozanimal
Member since 2003 • 2500 Posts

Got this error today, "Tag a may not have attribute rel"

Boz

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#23 GAMESHARQ
Member since 2008 • 5988 Posts
I think it's time Gamespot gets a forum Overhaul.trastamad03
I second this suggestion. It seems like if it's not one bug, it's another. And it seems to take a long time for a bug to get fixed too. Maybe if they just did a full overhaul, that would help with the problems.
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#24 lazyhoboguy
Member since 2007 • 1692 Posts

I've been dealing with this same bug and its driving me crazy. The link button at the top of the post page gives the error too. The bbcode fix link works though.

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gbrading

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#25 gbrading
Member since 2005 • 8085 Posts

Not being able to link to URLs without turning off the WYSIWYG editor or doing a manual workaround is frankly, very irritating. Almost infuriating. And hearing that the code is just something to do with SEO is maddening.

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#26 lazyhoboguy
Member since 2007 • 1692 Posts

Perhaps this isn't one of the frequent glitchspot errors. Perhaps it's something more sinister. Maybe, just maybe its a conspiracy to prevent us from linking people to other sites. They want to trap us here with the glitches forever!

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#27 gmax  Moderator
Member since 2005 • 6865 Posts
Perhaps this isn't one of the frequent glitchspot errors. Perhaps it's something more sinister. Maybe, just maybe its a conspiracy to prevent us from linking people to other sites. They want to trap us here with the glitches forever!lazyhoboguy
If this filter was only being applied to links to other sites maybe we could make that case, but it actually affects links to anywhere, including any and all other pages around here at GS - which is just about the worst part of it from a Tech Support perspective since a fair proportion of user-entered links are to other parts of the site. As near as I can tell "nofollow" has been applied in some cases in an attempt to "shape" SEO outcomes, and this seems the more likely rationale here. It's hard for me to believe it could do any good at all, but I guess if someone claims you can game the crawlers to make your site "look a certain way" then someone else will buy that snake oil. Something else along similar lines that I ran into recently is that GS now has a robots.txt file that asks crawlers to exclude user profile pages from their searches. As someone who has used external engines to search profiles I found this both ridiculous and concerning since it seems to continue a pattern of decisions apparently meant to discourage user contributions by burying them. All that aside and regardless of intent, injecting an attribute that the filter won't allow has to be a bug, so we'll just stick with that.

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#28 Bozanimal
Member since 2003 • 2500 Posts

Definitely one of the more annoying bugs, I'm getting it constantly whether I use the WYSIWYG editor or writing out the HTML by hand.

Boz

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#29 The-Apostle
Member since 2004 • 12197 Posts

Definitely one of the more annoying bugs, I'm getting it constantly whether I use the WYSIWYG editor or writing out the HTML by hand.

Boz

Bozanimal
Use BBCode. That still works...
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#30 Bozanimal
Member since 2003 • 2500 Posts
Use BBCode. That still works...The-Apostle
I can't believe I have to forego HTML for BBCode; my inner-nerd has dies a bit, this day. But hey, at least image hosting is working again! Boz
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Hexagon_777

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#31 Hexagon_777
Member since 2007 • 20348 Posts
I have been experiencing this issue as well lately. This thread was posted over a month ago...
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#32 Hexagon_777
Member since 2007 • 20348 Posts
Thanks to michaelP4 who has presented this temporary work around for the time being. Try using the template in the example below: GameSpotGameSpot You can test it out by editing your first post, and instead of clicking submit, you can click Preview, to preview exactly how the post will be displayed. Additionally, you may also find this guide helpful.verbtex
I've known about this for a while now. The reason I prefer HTML over BBcode sometimes is because the latter requires me to post something else outside of the code so that the message does not appear as empty.
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Hexagon_777

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#33 Hexagon_777
Member since 2007 • 20348 Posts
I think it's time Gamespot gets a forum Overhaul.trastamad03
Not being able to link to URLs without turning off the WYSIWYG editor or doing a manual workaround is frankly, very irritating. Almost infuriating. And hearing that the code is just something to do with SEO is maddening.gbrading
Perhaps this isn't one of the frequent glitchspot errors. Perhaps it's something more sinister. Maybe, just maybe its a conspiracy to prevent us from linking people to other sites. They want to trap us here with the glitches forever!lazyhoboguy
RAWR. Just use vBulletin already, people. I never have any issues on it on other forums. :(
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#34 dab198
Member since 2003 • 3934 Posts
Just use vBulletin already, people.Hexagon_777
It's not going to happen, so you might as well stop banging on about it.
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#35 haziqonfire
Member since 2005 • 36390 Posts
I'm hoping this gets resolved soon. It's hard to maintain certain threads like recommendation or upcoming games threads, having a hard time editing them.
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Hexagon_777

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#36 Hexagon_777
Member since 2007 • 20348 Posts

[QUOTE="Hexagon_777"]Just use vBulletin already, people.dab198
It's not going to happen, so you might as well stop banging on about it.

With all the crap GlitchSpot goes through on weekly basis, that's a rather poor choice to make.

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#37 RobotOpBuddy  Moderator
Member since 2004 • 65506 Posts
Certainly an odd 'bug', the editor is literally just replacing 'a href' with 'a rel="nofollow" href' provided it's within an anchor tag, looks as if it was intentional, even though it causes a rather awkward bug. Putting any valid attribute between a and href prevents it, whether you use title, name or target doesn't matter (see gmax's earlier post for an example using target). Hopefully it'll be fixed soon, preferably by removing the rel="nofollow" part entirely, but allowing it works too I suppose - however that would also allow us to just use other values for the rel attribute, defeating the point of stopping web crawlers/search spiders following the links, so it might as well just be removed, it's wasted post space at best.
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#38 Bozanimal
Member since 2003 • 2500 Posts

This bug is particularly nasty: I can't even update certain existing threads and stickies without getting massive errors.

Boz

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#39 The-Apostle
Member since 2004 • 12197 Posts

This bug is particularly nasty: I can't even update certain existing threads and stickies without getting massive errors.

Boz

Bozanimal
Also it won't let me quote without rel errors sometimes.
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topsemag55

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#40 topsemag55
Member since 2007 • 19063 Posts
Have the programmers provided any indication as to the priority of fixing this problem? It would be nice to be able to use the HTML again.
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topsemag55

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#42 topsemag55
Member since 2007 • 19063 Posts

Still can't insert links properly, this is getting bloody annoying.

Stringerboy
Use the BBCode in the 3rd post of this thread, it works.
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The-Apostle

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#45 The-Apostle
Member since 2004 • 12197 Posts
Sometimes quoting BBCode urls will give me errors. That just started yesterday. :?
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deactivated-5c79c3cfce222

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#46 deactivated-5c79c3cfce222
Member since 2009 • 4715 Posts

Does Gamespot employ engineers and do they care at all about the forum and the fixing of stuff they broke in it?
Can we get a timeframe? This year? Before the sun explodes and kills us all?
I'm wondering since this problem has been known for over three months. I don't feel entitled or anything, but this is ridiculous.

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Hexagon_777

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#47 Hexagon_777
Member since 2007 • 20348 Posts

This issue is still around? Interesting how a big name website like GameSpot simply can't (or doesn't want to) have properly working forums.

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#48 c_rakestraw  Moderator
Member since 2007 • 14627 Posts

This issue is still around? Interesting how a big name website like GameSpot simply can't (or doesn't want to) have properly working forums.Hexagon_777

Blame the fact that CBSi doesn't hire more site engineers. The ones they have don't work on any one site: they work on all of them. That's why it takes so damn long for anything to get fixed around here.

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Hexagon_777

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#49 Hexagon_777
Member since 2007 • 20348 Posts
[QUOTE="Hexagon_777"]This issue is still around? Interesting how a big name website like GameSpot simply can't (or doesn't want to) have properly working forums.c_rake
Blame the fact that CBSi doesn't hire more site engineers. The ones they have don't work on any one site: they work on all of them. That's why it takes so damn long for anything to get fixed around here.

Thanks or clearing that up. The folks at CBS sure know how to keep their users happy...
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topsemag55

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#50 topsemag55
Member since 2007 • 19063 Posts

Blame the fact that CBSi doesn't hire more site engineers. The ones they have don't work on any one site: they work on all of them. That's why it takes so damn long for anything to get fixed around here.

c_rake
Thanks for clearing that up, I wondered why they took so long with little results. Now I understand why Bonk keeps coming back, because they aren't here to fix it. The next time they show up, whomever is the boss at GS should tell them to stay on-site for about a month.