You are not allowed to post external links

[kzpm]

Dear tc_forum moderator,


I'm trying to post a question.
Unfortunally everytime I want to submit the qeustions I receive the message "You are not allowed to post external links"


However, I don't use any external links or directory paths.


What can I do to make my question 'valid'?

[Misalf]

Agreed.

Happened to me too a few days ago making my first post. I tryed forever editing the links I wanted to post (I can live with not posting external links as a forum rule) but as it turned out the problem was the 'code' BB-Code.
I've removed any links (even internal..) and used 'quote' BB-Code instead which made my post big and ugly but it worked.

Would be great if the forums posting-editor could get some little error info improvements for new users so we feel less stupid when joining here the first time.

[kzpm]

Thanks, I will give it a go..!

[Rich]

Hi kzpm & Misalf
You can use code tags once you have five posts listed.

Would be great if the forums posting-editor could get some little error info improvements for new users so we feel less stupid when joining here the first time.

Agreed. Some have posted complaining about this problem before and I would not be surprised if others have simply
given up when they got that error never to return.

[Misalf]

Hi Rich

Code: [Select]

Thank you for clarifying

[Rich]

Hi Misalf
You are welcome.

...  and used 'quote' BB-Code instead which made my post big and ugly but it worked.

I know it's a bit of a nuisance but you can edit that post and replace the quote tags with code tags if you wish to clean it up.

[althalus]

Hi kzpm & Misalf
You can use code tags once you have five posts listed.

Question: Why? I assume it has something to do with cutting back on spam, along with the actual not letting new members post links, but does limiting access to the code tags REALLY help( / how does it help)? I would assume it's a fairly legitimate tag many new members would want to use, especially when the reason most people initially post on the forums is for help.

[genec]

I assume it has something to do with cutting back on spam

My understanding is that is the sole reason.

"Hey guys.  I'm new and I'll drop this malicious link" and multiplied by a few thousand from unique IPs (all the while being the same person).  5 posts slows this down and often discourages.

It would be nice to allow links to the forum, wiki, and web page without these restrictions and perhaps drop a human hint to encapsulate such that you can attempt dropping an external link in plain unlinked text akin to

Code: [Select]

http://google.com as normal links like http://google.com or inside a quote

http://google.com

automatically become links.

Additionally quoting someone dropping a link would likely also be blocked (unfortunately) however quotes should be used sparingly.

[gutmensch]

Well, I removed the limitation of 2 needed posts before you can post external links, but to the amount of 5 posts total the links will be shown as non-active (as far as I understood this plugin correctly). Maybe this feature was a bit too error-prone but there were times when this forum got hit by 100 posts per day only containing questionable links.

[althalus]

Maybe this feature was a bit too error-prone but there were times when this forum got hit by 100 posts per day only containing questionable links.

Ah, didn't realise the spam problem was that bad. Well, carry on then! I'm glad I don't have to deal with forum administration these days

[kzpm]

Hi all,

Well, if only new members (like I was at that time) were informed about the limitations on external links in forum posts, it would not have been much of a topic I guess...

Regards,
Kzpm