Post by Admin/YBB on Aug 30, 2022 22:00:43 GMT -6
VigLink monetizes web traffic from the sites that use its services; Sovrn acquired VigLink in 2018. ProBoards (PB) uses VigLink redirects for all of its links, either the copy-and-paste URLs or the hyperlinks created by using its Link-Insert-Tool; this is a PB site ad feature and cannot be deactivated. The mechanics used seems like an auto-hypertext. Note that these redirects are different than the long identifying addendums found after "?" in the URLs from Facebook, Twitter, etc - those don't actually redirect and those addendum can be removed.
Basically, VigLink auto-creates a redirected URL from a regular URL so that the 1st part (removable, see later) starts with an unsecure "http://redirect.viglink..." and the 2nd part after "u=" contains the regular but slightly distorted URL, "https%3A//....." ("%3A" is just the HTML code for colon ":" and that URL is directly useable only when the colon is restored). A flag for the redirect is that in the final post, a regular URL entered gets modified, often without the leading https://..... or in some other way, but the details or copy-link-address will show the VigLink redirect.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VigLink
www.sovrn.com/blog/sovrn-acquires-viglink/
www.sovrn.com/
General URL Redirection en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL_redirection
Example
A Facebook link is used for example.
Regular URL entered (original seen in the Edit window; modified seen here)
www.facebook.com/yogibearbull/
Modified appearance of the regular URL in the post
www.facebook.com/yogibearbull/
Details of the redirected URL (original seen in the Edit window; modified seen here): 1st part - VigLink redirect; 2nd part - regular but distorted URL.
redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=7192194&u=https%3A//www.facebook.com/yogibearbull/
Caution
When PB links are copied by text (copy-text) or copy-link-address and posted at another site, it is the VigLink redirect link that is carried over, not the original URL. This may be noted by sophisticated users at the new site and concerns may be raised about the unsecure redirect of another unknown site. If the new site also uses VigLink, then there may be 2 levels of VigLink redirects, or VigLink redirect may fail. Some sites (whose URL was being used) may handle redirects abnormally by just displaying a default page (home or subscription page), and not displaying the intended content (M* and some Government sites sometimes act up in this way). There are several ways to avoid these problems:
1. Copy-and-paste link-address into WORD and simply edit out the 1st VigLink redirect part and restore the colon in the URL (: for %3A); new site's Link-Insert-Tool may also allow the editing of the URL. Note that copy-and-paste of text into WORD won't work for this as the hyperlink will carryover on ordinary paste or will be removed from special unformatted-paste.
2. Copy-text from the post Edit window (that shows the original text and regular URL) and use that to post text at the new site. Be careful not to accidently erase or edit the original post text; there may also be a time limit on the use of the post Edit feature at most PB sites and, obviously, one can edit only own posts.
3. Don't use copy-text or copy-link-address for the link URL, but open the link and copy its regular URL directly. If the original post has multiple URLs, this can be cumbersome.
Basically, VigLink auto-creates a redirected URL from a regular URL so that the 1st part (removable, see later) starts with an unsecure "http://redirect.viglink..." and the 2nd part after "u=" contains the regular but slightly distorted URL, "https%3A//....." ("%3A" is just the HTML code for colon ":" and that URL is directly useable only when the colon is restored). A flag for the redirect is that in the final post, a regular URL entered gets modified, often without the leading https://..... or in some other way, but the details or copy-link-address will show the VigLink redirect.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VigLink
www.sovrn.com/blog/sovrn-acquires-viglink/
www.sovrn.com/
General URL Redirection en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL_redirection
Example
A Facebook link is used for example.
Regular URL entered (original seen in the Edit window; modified seen here)
www.facebook.com/yogibearbull/
Modified appearance of the regular URL in the post
www.facebook.com/yogibearbull/
Details of the redirected URL (original seen in the Edit window; modified seen here): 1st part - VigLink redirect; 2nd part - regular but distorted URL.
redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=7192194&u=https%3A//www.facebook.com/yogibearbull/
Caution
When PB links are copied by text (copy-text) or copy-link-address and posted at another site, it is the VigLink redirect link that is carried over, not the original URL. This may be noted by sophisticated users at the new site and concerns may be raised about the unsecure redirect of another unknown site. If the new site also uses VigLink, then there may be 2 levels of VigLink redirects, or VigLink redirect may fail. Some sites (whose URL was being used) may handle redirects abnormally by just displaying a default page (home or subscription page), and not displaying the intended content (M* and some Government sites sometimes act up in this way). There are several ways to avoid these problems:
1. Copy-and-paste link-address into WORD and simply edit out the 1st VigLink redirect part and restore the colon in the URL (: for %3A); new site's Link-Insert-Tool may also allow the editing of the URL. Note that copy-and-paste of text into WORD won't work for this as the hyperlink will carryover on ordinary paste or will be removed from special unformatted-paste.
2. Copy-text from the post Edit window (that shows the original text and regular URL) and use that to post text at the new site. Be careful not to accidently erase or edit the original post text; there may also be a time limit on the use of the post Edit feature at most PB sites and, obviously, one can edit only own posts.
3. Don't use copy-text or copy-link-address for the link URL, but open the link and copy its regular URL directly. If the original post has multiple URLs, this can be cumbersome.
