How specify a particular post in a particular thread?

Mike_Fontenot

I've seen some links to this forum that specify a thread ID (with a "t=<number>" field). I've also seen (when I get an email alerting me to a new post on a thread I'm subscribed to) a link which specifies a particular post in a thread, but it uses a "p=<number>" field, and I can't see how you determine that number. (I would have thought that you would specify the thread with a "t" number, and augment that with the actual number of the post in that thread).

Anyone know how to construct such a link?

G037H3

click on the number on the top right of the post, and then copy+paste the resultant address

berkeman

Hah! I didn't know that trick. Thanks!

JesseM

Also, if you click the number of a post like G037H3's post above, you get a link to that post alone:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showpos...15&postcount=2

But then if you click the link to the thread title in the upper right of that link, you get a link that starts with that post at the top of the page, but shows you the surrounding thread:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthr...15#post2935215

D H

One problem with providing links to www.physicsforums.com is that some people log in to physicsforums.com.

Link to www.physicsforums.com post:
http://www.physicsforums.com/showpos...16&postcount=3

Link to the same post, but through physicsforums.com:
http://physicsforums.com/showpost.ph...16&postcount=3

Both of these show the post in question, but clicking on view thread (the clickable text name of the thread at the top right of the window) will only work right when the link agrees with how the you, the reader, logged in.

There is a way around this problem: Use the post tag. The post in question is post #2935216. Here are a some ways to use this tag (Note that I have put spaces before and after the open/close square brackets to demonstrate):

Default text:
[ post ] 2935216 [ / post] http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=2935216
Note that the default text looks like a url.

Just as you can do [ url = link_name ] my own title for the link [ / url ], you can do the same with post:
[ post=2935216 ] berkeman's post number 3 [ / post] berkeman's post number 3

Now the "view thread" works regardless of how the user logged in. Note that the same concept applies with the thread tag.

diazona

Huh, both styles of link work identically (and properly) for me.

Gokul43201

For me too (on FF 3.0/OSX). Can retrieve original thread from either link to post.

D H

Both do display the link and both do display the original thread. The two approaches differ in that you are logged in as you in one but are not logged in the other.

At least that is what I see. This link, http://physicsforums.com/showpost.ph...16&postcount=3, brings up a "View single post" window that shows berkeman's post #3 only. If I click on the text "How specify a particular post in a particular thread?" at top right of that "View single post" window I get a "View thread" window scrolled such that berkeman's post #3 is at the top of the window.

Do what I just described and look closely at the pane containing berkeman's post. Do you see a "Reply" button? I don't because I'm not logged-in as me in that window. I am instead just a guest. If I scroll the window to the top I see a log-in pane rather than a "Welcome D H." pane.

I use the www. physicsforums.com approach to get to this site. For those of you who omit the
www." both approaches might work in full. I don't know because I don't use that route to get to this site. Now I'm curious.

dlgoff

Exactly. To check out the difference, try to reply with the QUOTE button. You'll be able to on the one but will have to re-log in on the other.

D H

Thanks! That is a much more direct test of "correctness" than my indirect test in post #8.

Gokul43201

It keeps me logged in both ways. I can hit the quote button from either link, and it opens up a reply box without my having to do anything to log in again.

Edit: But on Opera (under OSX), only the link with www keeps me logged in. This is a browser dependent issue.

D H

I suspect that it is a cookie-dependent issue more than a browser-dependent issue. If you have logged on to both www.physicsforums.com and physicsforums.com in some browser and have clicked the "Remember me?" button for both logins you will have created cookies for that browser that remember who you are for both access points.

D H

Double-checked: I get exactly the same behavior with Safari and Firefox (version 3.6.10). One link has me logged in, the other doesn't.

Mike_Fontenot

Thanks ...that's exactly the information I was looking for.

D H

Read further, Mike. I suggest you do the following instead: Get the link to the post in question that shows the post number. Copy and paste just the post number. For the second post in this thread that post number is 2935215. Now create a VB post tag with that post number. This works in two ways, just like VB url tags. One is, sans the spaces, [ post ] 2935215 [ /post ]. Here is how this post tag looks to the reader: http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=2935215. Note that the presentation is that of a url rather than a post.

The other way is to make your tag a hyperlink. An example: [ post=2935215 ]G037H3's post [ /post ]. Here is how that one looks: G037H3's post .

The advantage of using post tags is that they always work correctly. A logged-in user can click on the Quote button and be able to respond to the post if you use post tags. That is not always the case when you use url tags.

Mike_Fontenot

Thanks, DH ... very useful.

diazona

I see now, that's what had happened to me before. Somehow I had gotten logged in to the non-www domain even though I normally only access PF through the www subdomain. But after clearing my PF cookies I get the same behavior you're seeing.