[Talk Host]

Dear Members,

I'm not sure how many of you know about this, but I thought it would be worth a special thread.

As you know, you have the ability to place links to websites in your posts here on Talk of The Villages. It's a nice feature that is very helpful to many.

For some reason, if the link you post is directed to any of the Villages official web sites it cycles back to your original page and not to The Villages site. For example, Click here: http://www.golfthevillages.com/ In short, TOTV has been blocked from posting many pertinent links to The Villages.

This is not an accidental phenomenon. We don't know why the blockade has been set up, but it has. There have been numerous suggestions to us as to how this is being done, but no reason why has ever been forwarded.

If a link to a Villages website is posted in a thread, it is necessary for you to copy it and paste it in the URL window of your web browser.

Here at Talk of The Villages, we are trying to be good neighbors to The Villages Companies. This restriction imposed on us has left us scratching our heads. We like The Villages, We like what they stand for, We like the developer, We like the lifestyle that's offered here, We try to use the freedom of speech that we have to make life even better. We hope that someday, the blockade will be lifted and you will be permitted to post helpful links to Villages information.

Best Regards
The Administrators

[Lou Card]

Originally Posted by Talk Host

Dear Members,

I'm not sure how many of you know about this, but I thought it would be worth a special thread.

As you know, you have the ability to place links to websites in your posts here on Talk of The Villages. It's a nice feature that is very helpful to many.

For some reason, if the link you post is directed to any of the Villages official web sites it cycles back to your original page and not to The Villages site. For example, Click here: http://www.golfthevillages.com/ In short, TOTV has been blocked from posting any pertinent links to The Villages.

This is not an accidental phenomenon. We don't know why the blockade has been set up, but it has. There have been numerous suggestions to us as to how this is being done, but no reason why has ever been forwarded.

If a link to a Villages website is posted in a thread, it is necessary for you to copy it and paste it in the URL window of your web browser.

Here at Talk of The Villages, we are trying to be good neighbors to The Villages Companies. This restriction imposed on us has left us scratching our heads. We like The Villages, We like what they stand for, We like the developer, We like the lifestyle that's offered here, We try to use the freedom of speech that we have to make life even better. We hope that someday, the blockade will be lifted and you will be permitted to post helpful links to Villages information.

Best Regards
The Administrators

Does that apply to members or just the Talk Hosts?
Lou Card

[jannd228]

just testing the waters

http://www.thevillages.com/golf/golf.asp

it worked for me, anyone else

Originally Posted by jannd228

just testing the waters

http://www.thevillages.com/golf/golf.asp

it worked for me, anyone else

That worked for me. I have experienced what Talk Host writes about though. Sometimes they go through to Villages' official sites, often they have not in the past though.

[Sherman931]

It happened to me yesterday. I was reading something about the soon to-be Brownwood Market Square and the OP placed a link in the message that was supposed to take you to a site with info about Brownwood, but each time I clicked it just routed me back to the page I was reading that had the link. Finally I just copied and pasted it into browser and it worked fine.

Thanks for explaining the mystery ( at least the part as to what was happening, but not the why) Host Administrator

[jannd228]

sometimes the links aren't complete I have found, copy the link in your browser using ctrl+c, then click the globe icon above under the smiley face
a new window will open then click ctrl+v that's what I did
hope this helps

[Lou Card]

Originally Posted by Sherman931

It happened to me yesterday. I was reading something about the soon to-be Brownwood Market Square and the OP placed a link in the message that was supposed to take you to a site with info about Brownwood, but each time I clicked it just routed me back to the page I was reading that had the link. Finally I just copied and pasted it into browser and it worked fine.

Thanks for explaining the mystery ( at least the part as to what was happening, but not the why) Host Administrator

Ditto!!! I have had it happen and did not know what to do, so I would go to BING and search for the toppic some times finding it to click on and sometimes not. This information will help alot.

[jannd228]

Administrators,

It is unfortunate if that is happening to you. I think as a wannabe, you provide a great service to The Villages and many of their residents by giving information from services available to information necessary to make decisions (such as buying a pre-owned versus a new home like I am).

Sometimes people don't understand that discussions like the ones last week about the IRS issue, are necessary to address misinformation and conjecture rather than actual factual reporting.

TOTV even has a wonderful greet and meet team under the direction of KathieI that I hope to meet someday.

Your services here are wonderful and considering the price (FREE) supportive of the community, it is indeed invaluable.

Just my 2 cents

Jann

[Talk Host]

Originally Posted by jannd228

just testing the waters

http://www.thevillages.com/golf/golf.asp

it worked for me, anyone else

This link doesn't take you to the Golf page. Only to Villages.com their greeting page.

[SALYBOW]

"It happened to me yesterday. I was reading something about the soon to-be Brownwood Market Square and the OP placed a link in the message that was supposed to take you to a site with info about Brownwood, but each time I clicked it just routed me back to the page I was reading that had the link. Finally I just copied and pasted it into browser and it worked fine."

Bogie Shooter posted a link to the info about Brownswood and it would not go there. I thoght I was just doing something wrong, but I am usually quite computer literate. So I am still in the dark about Brownswood.

[Pturner]

Sometimes I have been able to click a link in TOTV to a TV site and get on, sometimes, I get circled back to TOTV. Jannd's link worked.

I'm trying the same link TH used as the example to see if it works if a TOTV member posts the link:

http://www.golfthevillages.com/

[Pturner]

It didn't. OK, curious. Trying this one:

http://www.districtgov.org/links/index.aspx

[ajbrown]

Originally Posted by SALYBOW

Bogie Shooter posted a link to the info about Brownswood and it would not go there. I thoght I was just doing something wrong, but I am usually quite computer literate. So I am still in the dark about Brownswood.

I think it is caused by how folks copy and paste a link from a post. As an example, this is the browswood link you mention:

http://www.thevillagescommercialprop...-brownwood.asp

Here is the REAL link:

http://www.thevillagescommercialproperty.com/prop-brownwood.asp

See how the visible part of the link in a post has been shortened? It is prop...-brownwood.asp instead of property.com/prop-brownwood.asp. This means the link is long and is not being displayed in full. You cannot copy and paste a link like that. Here is a method to copy links which always works for me:

Right Click on the link
Select Copy Shortcut
Paste into a browser.

Hope that helps...

[Lou Card]

Originally Posted by Pturner

It didn't. OK, curious. Trying this one:

http://www.districtgov.org/links/index.aspx

This worked for me.

[ajbrown]

FYI, you can test how a link will work using "Preview Post".