- Joined
- 25 June 2014
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- 1,564
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- 1,483
It can be useful to post link to other sites and rely on the forum engine and click-through to get at the information. But many of these sites are paywalled; no cash, no access. Others require untrusted javascripts and other privacy-invading stuff to be active. Twitter links are now appearing in my browser as large blank spaces, with no indication that there is anything there at all until I examine the page's HTML code.
I sometimes ask our contributors to post such summaries, but none do so as a matter of habit and, presumably because they are rich enough to have subscriptions and slap-happy enough to enjoy receiving targeted spam, cannot remember that others of us are not. And asks are not always addressed anyway.
This MAKS airshow thread is a recent example, in which there is not one post in the whole thread which offers actual in-page information about the show. our proprietor PaulMM himself has posted two Twitter links which come across as large blank areas, followed by three YouTube video links, which come across as even larger black areas with sulky messages about javascript. Posts which offer only a bare text hyperlink or two are no better.
With due respect, this is unhelpful. Besides the immediate accessibility issues, such off-forum links often eventually break because the data may disappear or get moved.
Some off-site links are obviously useful in the short term, such as the live video feed from the show. If this ephemeral aspect is to be adopted as part of what we have here, then such links should at least be accompanied by brief explanations as to what they show and, if need be, why that is of current interest.
May I suggest that all posts should assume that the visitor cannot or does not wish to access the link provided, and that therefore some text summary should be provided, if only to explain what is in the link. This would also greatly help those visitors who use accessibility aids such as screen readers. Ideally, I would like to be able to report the more obtuse posts, in the knowledge that either the OP will be obliged to add something useful or the post will be deleted.
I sometimes ask our contributors to post such summaries, but none do so as a matter of habit and, presumably because they are rich enough to have subscriptions and slap-happy enough to enjoy receiving targeted spam, cannot remember that others of us are not. And asks are not always addressed anyway.
This MAKS airshow thread is a recent example, in which there is not one post in the whole thread which offers actual in-page information about the show. our proprietor PaulMM himself has posted two Twitter links which come across as large blank areas, followed by three YouTube video links, which come across as even larger black areas with sulky messages about javascript. Posts which offer only a bare text hyperlink or two are no better.
With due respect, this is unhelpful. Besides the immediate accessibility issues, such off-forum links often eventually break because the data may disappear or get moved.
Some off-site links are obviously useful in the short term, such as the live video feed from the show. If this ephemeral aspect is to be adopted as part of what we have here, then such links should at least be accompanied by brief explanations as to what they show and, if need be, why that is of current interest.
May I suggest that all posts should assume that the visitor cannot or does not wish to access the link provided, and that therefore some text summary should be provided, if only to explain what is in the link. This would also greatly help those visitors who use accessibility aids such as screen readers. Ideally, I would like to be able to report the more obtuse posts, in the knowledge that either the OP will be obliged to add something useful or the post will be deleted.
