That number behind section URLs

[Ardenian]

Just a quick question/suggestion, why is there a number behind the common forums URL ?

Like: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/requests-341

This makes it impossible for site visitors to easily access sub-forums directly by URL like http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/requests,
since it will re-direct you to the main forum page, which I myself think is very annoying.

Is there a good reason why there are this for code-noobs not understandable, random-looking numbers ?

I know it is nothing important, but a little detail being quite annoying, especially if using the smart phone.

 

[Ralle]

I use it a lot as it is. I just type site and Firefox auto-completes Site Discussion. The same goes for my iPhone. I know it could be simpler by removing the ID, but the benefit of this is that if we ever decide to rename a forum (I know it's very rare), all links will still work.

 

[Ardenian]

Hm, I see.. Well, as I said, a minor point, rather unimportant, I can live with it.

 

[Ash]

We're very glad to hear that.

 

[Ardenian]

We're very glad to hear that.

Something came to my mind:

If I enter the URL without the index, then I will be re-directed to the main page.
Wouldn't it be possible ( yes yes, but low-priority to code it) to re-direct to the corresponding forum ?

 

[Ralle]

Yes, but not something I will spend my time with, sorry.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

I actually... had this issue aswell; specifically for the hosted project subforums.

When I want to add a link (for example in the loading screen of a map) to a hosted project forum, it complicates the links and makes them harder to type out.

 

[Roland]

It reminds me having hard time typing out binary code links or md5 hash links on the address bar. Can't you just remove those numbers, Ralle? it's quite irritating for the others to type it manually.

 

[PurgeandFire]

You shouldn't have to type it out manually though, as Ralle described. If you visit it, then your favorite web browser will have it show up in auto-complete.

@Zwiebelchen: They can still lookup the map name on google. Your forum is the first hit.

 

[Ralle]

Maybe in the future.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Maybe you could provide a redirect for this? Like if the number is missing, it redirects to the same link including the number? That way when the forum gets renamed, only the redirect will stop functioning?

 

[Rui]

You only have to type it once supposedly, then your browser memorizes it, like Ralle said.

(The funny part about having IDs is that you can also retrace part of Hive's life, but that's crazy nostalgic me talking. Besides, at some point I “recycled” old unused forums so the sequence doesn't go quite straight. Then again, maybe not, as I believe none of those are currently visible)