Petteri Räty posted <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, excerpted below, on Wed, 23 Nov 2005 00:26:57 +0200:
> Jochen Maes wrote: >> Hello all, >> >> > >> I'd appreciate a nice welcome and a descent slap on the butt when you >> pass him... >> >> Joshua, welcome! >> >> >> > http://tinyurl.com/n9qb > I hope to see this list near hundred soon! OK, this is a gripe of mine, so... 1) There's only the tinyurl, no indication at all of where it actually points, or what the "list" is! Surely, a bit of a description might be useful. Something like "(buglist of <whatever>)". (I'm composing this having gone to the URL but still have no idea of what <whatever> is, because there's no title and the URL is too long to easily figure out what's being searched on.) 2) The URL actually pointed to is: http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=&short_desc_type=allwordssubstr&short_desc=&long_desc_type=substring&long_desc=&bug_file_loc_type=allwordssubstr&bug_file_loc=&keywords_type=allwords&keywords=&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&emailassigned_to1=1&emailtype1=exact&email1=java%40gentoo.org&emailassigned_to2=1&emailreporter2=1&emailqa_contact2=1&emailcc2=1&emailtype2=substring&email2=&bugidtype=include&bug_id=&votes=&changedin=&chfieldfrom=&chfieldto=Now&chfieldvalue=&cmdtype=doit&order=Reuse+same+sort+as+last+time&field0-0-0=noop&type0-0-0=noop&value0-0-0= Obviously that's waaayyyy... too long to be of much use, so a tinyurl is appreciated. However, a lot of those query substrings are empty or the default or otherwise unneeded. Trimming the cruft should result in a far shorter URL that actually conveys a bit of information. With a URL of this lenth, the easiest way to do that is to paste the URL into an editor and trim from there. Trim a bit, then try the link to see if it still works, then trim some more... Here's what I came up with after a bit of trial and error. Note that the original URL poster, knowing what he's after and thus knowing which fields are likely to be relevant, could have done the same with rather less trouble. http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&emailassigned_to1=1&emailtype1=exact&email1=java%40gentoo.org Still not short, so a tinyurl is still useful, but /far/ shorter than the above, and it's actually possible to see what this one is looking for: a) bugstatus=NEW/ASSIGNED/REOPENED and b) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (exact match). OK, how much easier would it have been to just post this: List of open bugs assigned to java@: http://tinyurl.com/<whatever> Note also that some don't like clicking on blind URLs, even with descriptions. Thus, optionally: List of open bugs assigned to java@: http://tinyurl.com/<whatever> (points to) http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&emailassigned_to1=1&emailtype1=exact&email1=java%40gentoo.org That way, both those who don't want to trust a blind link, and those that are reading the list on long-url munging clients, have a link to click. Further, even if the long URL ends up munged, it's possible to see what it is, and to reassemble it, if desired. -- Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman in http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html -- gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list
