Remove Hyperlink from Usernames on Topics Tab.

[TylerD321]

I think it would be useful for the hyperlink to be removed on peoples usernames on the topic tab. This isn’t much of an issue on desktop, however when viewing the forums from the phone it’s basically a 50/50 chance whether I open the topic or someone’s profile on accident given how close the topic title and username is.

 

This issue poses more of an issue to me on single line post titles than multiple line titles for obvious reasons.

 

It would be easily fixed by having to go to someone’s profile by searching for it or clicking into the topic and then onto their name. I can’t think of a single time where you would want to look at someone’s profile before seeing the topic anyway.

 

 

[LogicalDrm]

I could agree on mobile as the location of the tab is way lower on the site. But imo better fix could be increasing padding/space between title and username.

 

46 minutes ago, TylerD321 said:

I can’t think of a single time where you would want to look at someone’s profile before seeing the topic anyway.

Moderation's view, can't ban bots from topic. Must be done from profile.

[TylerD321]

14 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

I could agree on mobile as the location of the tab is way lower on the site. But imo better fix could be increasing padding/space between title and username.

 

Moderation's view, can't ban bots from topic. Must be done from profile.

That fix is also acceptable.

 

However, how do you know they are a bot before looking at the topic? Once you are in the topic you can click their username to go to their profile then ban. 

[LogicalDrm]

14 minutes ago, TylerD321 said:

However, how do you know they are a bot before looking at the topic? Once you are in the topic you can click their username to go to their profile then ban.

Last one I banned had emojies and pretty obvious title... Most spam bots are obvious, either by title or username.

[TylerD321]

Just now, LogicalDrm said:

Last one I banned had emojies and pretty obvious title... Most spam bots are obvious, either by title or username.

That makes sense, maybe a better fix/compromise would be to flip the user name and “started x minutes ago” so there’s a buffer. 

[colonel_mortis]

1 hour ago, LogicalDrm said:

Moderation's view, can't ban bots from topic. Must be done from profile.

The profile picture could still open the hovercard+link to the profile, so I'm not too worried about this.

 

The thing that does give me pause though is consistency - usernames link to profiles literally everywhere else, so it wouldn't be ideal to remove this. Swapping the order might work, although it slightly messes up the flow of the content.

[rcmaehl]

17 hours ago, colonel_mortis said:

The profile picture could still open the hovercard+link to the profile, so I'm not too worried about this.

 

The thing that does give me pause though is consistency - usernames link to profiles literally everywhere else, so it wouldn't be ideal to remove this. Swapping the order might work, although it slightly messes up the flow of the content.

Perhaps make the ipsDataItem or ipsDataItem_main class be the link, so that more of the actual card can be clicked on to access the post instead of just the title text.

Before:

 

After:

 

<div class="ipsDataItem_main cWidgetComments" onclick="location.href='https://linustechtips.com/topic/<WHATEVER>/';" style="cursor:pointer;">

 

[colonel_mortis]

7 hours ago, rcmaehl said:

Perhaps make the ipsDataItem or ipsDataItem_main class be the link, so that more of the actual card can be clicked on to access the post instead of just the title text.

Before:

 

After:

 

<div class="ipsDataItem_main cWidgetComments" onclick="location.href='https://linustechtips.com/topic/<WHATEVER>/';" style="cursor:pointer;">

 

Links inside links are an anti-pattern (there's a reason HTML doesn't officially let you do that with <a>) - if you are aiming for the username and miss, you are now guaranteed to open the topic, rather than possibly opening the topic but otherwise just doing nothing.

[rcmaehl]

6 minutes ago, colonel_mortis said:

Links inside links are an anti-pattern (there's a reason HTML doesn't officially let you do that with <a>) - if you are aiming for the username and miss, you are now guaranteed to open the topic, rather than possibly opening the topic but otherwise just doing nothing.

One of these days I'll take a UX course...

 

My only other suggestion is to swap:

By: Username
with
Started <x time> ago

That way there's at least 1 non-link between links and it doesn't mess with flow too much.