broken gstwin links - suggestion/workaround **FIXED**!!!

[WREX]

I was reading through a couple of threads and noticed a few people mentioning broken links.  This can happen when servers or services are switched and naming conventions change.  It's not unique to our board and just a reality of the internet in general; While there are sometimes great info at the end of these broken links, it's unrealistic to expect anyone to go back and update all their past links (who keeps track of all previously posted links, nevermind the time to go back and actually do the update). 

It's not always possible depending on how the link was originally referenced, but sometimes it is possible to see these older threads, by just renaming the link to the current standard.  Looking at the address bar in your browswer window, basically just copy and paste a current, unrelated thread in a new window, then edit the number to point to the old thread, as shown in it's address.  Here are some examples:

old broken link
http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3521
new working link
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=3521


old broken link
http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7084
new working link
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=7084


old broken link
http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5048
new working link
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=5048



While the whole process takes a couple of seconds at most (find a broken link, copy and paste an address, type a new number and hit enter), depending on your savvyness, if this seems too cumbersome, there's always the "search" button, as been suggested many times.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to post, otherwise good luck and happy browsing folks.

[RVertigo]

 

Now write a script that'll do that for all the topics...   

[Mandres]

sweet I didn't know that worked!  I wish I had known this months ago...

-M

[NightRyder]

Nice, I was wondering if the topic numbers were 1 to 1.

[WREX]

glad it's helping.

I was thinking it'd be a shame for all the great threads (like the infamous Kerry pic threads - welcome back btw Kerry) to be not as accessible as they could be. 

like I mentioned, it doesn't work for all, but it works enough of the time to at least try before giving up.

[Kerry]

Thanks for the welcome back.  On the other hand, no thanks for letting me know how I can find and fix all of my broken links. 

I did a search for posts containing "viewtopic" by Kerry, and I got 22 pages of hits.  I guess I know what I'll be doing in my spare (ha!) time for the next few weeks.

[scratch]

Welcome back, Kerry!

I've been fixing some of the links to, or in, my posts as I come across them; expecially since I remember most of what I said, or what I was linking to, so I know what keywords to search.

[Kerry]

Looks like you've still got 4 pages worth of posts to go. 

Say, I notice that your post count is getting right up there.  I came back just in time!  (Just kidding ... especially since I noticed that pandy has blown past Srinath!  )

[aaronstj]

A server-side fix should be as easy as putting

Code Select Expand


<?php
header("Location: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=$_GET[t]");
?>


at /forum/viewtopic.php.  Admins?

[Egaeus]

It's really as simple as a python (or perl) script that could go though the archive and do it.  It could be done with a regex pretty easily.  However, does anyone really want to trust my python skills to fix the server?

[john]

This has been fixed thanks to aaronstj!  His little script worked like a charm!  Links to topics in  the old forum will redirected to the new forum.

I am pretty sure this could be accomplished by editing the ,htaccess file but his way worked before I could look into is.

Thhanks!!! 

[pandy]

I came back just in time!  (Just kidding ... especially since I noticed that pandy has blown past Srinath!  )

Any time you come back is perfect timing!  As for the post count. It's rigged. I'm innocent. I didn't do it. I'm as quiet as a mouse. I just sit here in my little corner of the world...quietly...sitting....not saying a word.... oh so quiet....  john did it. He's a big meanie! (Did I mention how quiet I am!?) 

[aaronstj]

Woohoo, it worked! 

Kerry, you can go ahead and put your old posts back. 

[RVertigo]

   Geeks of the board UNITE!  Good job guys.

[Alphamazing]

Aaron, you are my hero. 

[WREX]

excellent stuff folks.  glad to see the old info is that much more accessible again.   

the technology solution is so much eloquent and effective, then my manual keyboard typing hack.

[natedawg120]

great job guys.  I just edited the links in the url to make them work, thought never crossed my mind to actually try and fix it,  But then again i am at work 90% of the time i am on the forum 

[Kerry]

Good going!  That seems to work ... for 14 of my 22 pages worth of "viewtopic by Kerry" search results.

But ... wouldn't you know it, I had to get "fancy" at some point in the past and link directly to individual posts?   

I don't suppose there's any help for old links like

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=75355#75355[/list]
when they resolve to a new-style link like

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=9151.msg75355#msg75355[/list]
?

Since the topic number is not included in the old link, it looks like I still have some work to do.... 

[john]

Good going!  That seems to work ... for 14 of my 22 pages worth of "viewtopic by Kerry" search results.

But ... wouldn't you know it, I had to get "fancy" at some point in the past and link directly to individual posts?   

I don't suppose there's any help for old links like

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=75355#75355[/list]
when they resolve to a new-style link like

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=9151.msg75355#msg75355[/list]
?

Since the topic number is not included in the old link, it looks like I still have some work to do.... 

I swear I didn't know there was such an easy solution.  It never even crossed my mind that links to other threads would point to the old forum.  These things happen -and you don't even want to know the trouble we had with our last host.

Maybe the guru's can think of something    From what I see that thread has no pointer to a topic which could be sticky.

Don't kill yourself updating stuff, just take a deep breath, remember the Lord loves you, and pray one of these haker kids can figure it out 

[Kerry]

Don't kill yourself updating stuff, just take a deep breath, remember the Lord loves you, and pray one of these ha[c]ker kids can figure it out 

Good advice!  I actually haven't started down the "manual updates" path yet.

Anybody up for a "hacker kid" contest?