Site Update -- Broken Link Report

1. STAFF

   pauldeedsposted 16 years ago

   We just made a small update to the site.  The biggest change is the addition of the broken link report.  It will show you broken links in your text and link capsules.
   
   We'll be trying to test all links about once a week, and re-test broken links every 24 hours or so.  A link could be broken when we test it but then back up and working later, so you shouldn't rely only on our testing; consider it advisory, and be sure to retest the link yourself.
   
   As usual, let us know if you see anything unusual (with the link report, or elsewhere).
   
   Thanks!

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   waynetposted 16 years ago

   Cheers for this, this is some good stuff to know, so we can fix those broken links!!

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   Mishaposted 16 years ago

   Thanks Paul, it's a nice feature

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   cvaughn570posted 16 years ago

   I really like this feature as I had a couple of broken links that I did not know about.
   Thanks Paul!

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   Dottie1posted 16 years ago

   Wouldn't have known about the broken link. Thanks Paul.  I really like this new feature.

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   darksideposted 16 years ago

   It's showing Hubpage URL trackers as broken links.

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      larryfreemanposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Darkside,
      
      Thanks very much for reporting this.  I am the engineer who wrote the Broken Links feature.
      
      I checked it out and you are correct, the broken link checker is not working correctly with  hubpage urls that have anchors (the '#' sign as part of the url)
      
      I should have the fix out soon.
      
      Cheers,
      
      -Larry

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         darksideposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         Larry, you rock.

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   darksideposted 16 years ago

   And also other anchor links, eg: http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/e5.htm#empe
   
   EDIT: Just saw your post.

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   relacheposted 16 years ago

   Extremely cool feature, guys!

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   SunSevenposted 16 years ago

   This new feature can help me a lot
   Thank you hub team
   
   Edit: Does it also show the non-functioning video(capsules) links too? It will be great to have this included

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   1. STAFF

      pauldeedsposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Not yet, but that is in the works.

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      weblogposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Nice Feature.
      
      
      
      Yes, it will be great if done

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      larryfreemanposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      We do not yet check non-functioning video(capsule) links.  We are planning to add that feature soon.
      
      -Larry

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         Dottie1posted 16 years agoin reply to this

         That would be a great addition.  Many videos links on hubs I've wanted to view were broken.

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    SunSevenposted 16 years ago

    Thanks Paul.

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    Marian Swiftposted 16 years ago

    Way cool tool.  Had a couple of bad links where I least expected them.  Many thanks, team!

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    Custodian Joeposted 16 years ago

    Hi Paul.  Please forgive me, all of this is very new to me. What is a broken link and is this a problem I have on my hub page? How do I find it and how do I fix it.  I started writing about three years ago and a friend told me about hub pages and suggested I post some of my work. That's about where I am now. Do I understand the rest of this? No!  Am I a quick study? Again I'm sorry,   Any help I can get will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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       DJ Funktualposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Is anyone goinna answer this guy?

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          Dottie1posted 16 years agoin reply to this

          Custodian Joe, Go to your account page and on the right hand side scroll down to "Broken Links" and click on.  It will bring you to the Broken Links Report.  If it says "no bad links found at this time" you have nothing to worry about.  If you do have a broken link that will show up on this report and you would click on and fix the link or replace it with another which was the case for me since the original link was no longer active.  Hope this helps.

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             terenceyap07posted 16 years agoin reply to this

             Thanks for the advice, Dottie.
             
             *smiles*

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          topstuffposted 16 years agoin reply to this

          And what you did.

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    spudsposted 16 years ago

    Nice development.

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    funrideposted 16 years ago

    Great feature! I already fixed some broken links on my older hubs, thanks .

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    compu-smartposted 16 years ago

    Sweet!! I love it and have fixed about half a dozen broken links!!
    
    
    Thanks HPs:)

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    Sally's Troveposted 16 years ago

    Very nice feature!  Thank you, HP and Larry.

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    Princessaposted 16 years ago

    Thanks, very useful feature.  I've already fixed a couple of broken links, that I might have never known about otherwise!

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    darksideposted 16 years ago

    I just want to say again, this is a FANTASTIC feature. It's picking up on a few of my own mistakes but also dead links at other sites.

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    topstuffposted 16 years ago

    My
    Broken Links Report says
    No bad links found at this time.

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    shawna.wilsonposted 16 years ago

    This is great.  It would be hard to keep up on all my links without this feature.  Thanks!

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    SunSevenposted 16 years ago

    I find it not so perfect at this time. Sometimes the warning message is displayed even when there are no broken links in the hubs.

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       larryfreemanposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Hi SunSeven,
       
       Thanks for letting me know.  Since this is the first version of the tool, it is not perfect.  If you let me know which url links are incorrectly getting the warnnings, I'll take a look and investigate.
       
       Cheers,
       
       -Larry

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    guidebabaposted 16 years ago

    Same comment as SunSeven. @#

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       larryfreemanposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Guidebaba,
       
       Thanks very much for letting me know.  If you tell which urls are being incorrectly reported as broken links, I'll take a look to see what's up.
       
       Cheers,
       
       -Larry

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    DarleneMarieposted 16 years ago

    I am a newbie to HubPages; however, I do see where this would be a godsend and time saver for people that have quite a few Hubs.
    
    Thanks in advance for my future here at HubPages

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    William F. Torpeyposted 16 years ago

    Thank you, HubPages, for another great feature. I had three broken links that I've now fixed. Personally, I hate to disappoint people who come to my hubs only to find something amiss. I know it bothers me when a link doesn't work, so I'm pleased to be assured that mine are in proper working order. I worry about my videos working, but it is very time consuming to check through hubs to find out whether the they work or not. It'll be another great step forward for HubPages when broken video links are reported. Thanks, again.

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    Lady Guinevereposted 16 years ago

    I have a broken link and fixed it three times and here it is again and it still hasn't saved the new site:
    The Importance Of Spaying and Neutering Your Animal Companion
    http://www.alleycat.org/index.html
    Error: 404 Not Found   checked 5 hours ago
    
    I had two broken links and the first one saved and changed the link successfully.  Just this second one didn't save or change the link.  Should I delete the link and re-enter it with the new link?

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       larryfreemanposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Lady Guinevere,
       
       It sounds like deleting the link and then re-entering the new link should do the trick.
       
       Please let me know if you continue to have the problem.
       
       -Larry

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    Peter M. Lopezposted 16 years ago

    I've been out of the loop for a while, but this feature is great.  Love it.  Great work.

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    SunSevenposted 16 years ago

    Thank you Larry. Now there seems to be a change. It says "A potentially broken link has been detected in this hub. It is highlighted in yellow below. You can correct the link by editing the containing capsule." But there is no highlighted link anywhere!

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    relacheposted 16 years ago

    Larry,
    
    I sent in a bug report about getting reports of broken links that then don't show on the actual hub when you go look too and Maddie got back to me, but the situation keeps happening.  Out of a little over 100 hubs, I see it two to three times a day, most often a different hub each time.  What I keep seeing is this weird "it's broken but then not there" syndrome seems to be related specifically to RSS capsules.  And not only that, the link that's often reported as broken can then not be found on the hub when you go look for it, the RSS feed will actually be showing other links.
    
    And if I hit edit and then just save the hub without actually doing anything, if I go re-run the broken link report, nothing's there.  It's like the hubs are crying wolf for no actual reason.
    
    Hope that helps you track down the bug.

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       larryfreemanposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Relache,
       
       Thanks very much for the detailed report.  :-)  I should be able to take a look at the issue later this week.
       
       Cheers,
       
       -Larry

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29. STAFF

    pauldeedsposted 16 years ago

    That helps Relache, I think we know what is going on.   At present we only update the list of links on an article when it is edited, and periodically there after (but not often enough to keep up to date with quickly changing RSS feeds).  We're working on a solution, but it may be a little while.  Essentially, we need to recognize each time an RSS feed updates and recalculate the links for "bad links" purposes ...

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    relacheposted 16 years ago

    Paul & Larry,
    
    Glad the more detailed info was useful.  It took a few days of watching to see a pattern starting to happen.  Of course, now I'm watching to see if the bug doesn't follow that pattern ever.
    
    Thank for chasing this down.  I'm sure it won't be too long before it's fixed.

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    Sally's Troveposted 15 years ago

    It's been a while since you introduced the broken links report.  And I just want to tell you how pleased I am with it.  You've reported three broken links on my Hubs over the last few months, I've corrected each of them, and I'm very happy that I don't have to scout out my own Hubs one by one to test the links.  This is a great feature.  Bravo to you all!

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    William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

    Please add my thanks to those of Sally's Trove. Broken links are distressing to me and, more importantly, to anyone who reads my scribbles.

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       JYOTI KOTHARIposted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Sure?

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    compu-smartposted 15 years ago

    I could do with this "broken link" feature at my blogger  blog!

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    William F. Torpeyposted 15 years ago

    Sure.

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    Dame Scribeposted 15 years ago

    I noticed the changes and just get tickled with them. It's a nice feeling to have somebody looking out for us, thank you!

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    hsofyanposted 15 years ago

    Thank you Paul. I will give you the info if there is a strange. Also try to do the test themselves. Regards

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