Question Missing posts???

[Unclear Engineer]

Why am I getting e-mail notifications about new posts in my watched threads, which contain the text of the new post, but when I go to that thread to reply, that post is not there? That has happened more than once recently, in different threads. And, the posts do not seem like the kind that would be removed.

Please explain or fix.

 

[shaines]

Hey there,

I'm afraid we can't really provide additional info without getting some additional info from you first. Can you provide any specific details about the forum posts you're expecting to see, but can't? Until we can look at any specific post we won't be able to determine where it went or why.

Thanks

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Not sure how to provide you with the info. My first try is a cut-and-paste of the e-mail I received this morning:
[begin paste]
firal49466 replied to a thread you are watching at Space.com Forums.

Questions about light
I agree with Cat that heat is light, or infrared photons, and that heat cannot be transported if there are no photons in the infrared region of the spectrum. However, if enough light—say let's blue light—is incident on a surface and is absorbed by it, it can be converted into heat since less of the energy is re-emitted or lost by conduction by the material.

No, since light is made up of energy photons, it cannot spread viruses.

A virus, bacterium, or multicellular organisms form the bodies of a cold or any other sickness. In essence, a photon of light is incapable of carrying any type of stuff.



The term "light" comes from the fact that light, by definition, moves at the speed of light.

View this thread

[end paste]

Note that if you click on that link, or otherwise go to that thread, this message does not appear as a post, there.

 

[COLGeek]

That was a spam post that was removed.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

I do not understand why you labeled it a "spam post".

While I see some flaws in the statements made in the post, I have seen worse posts that have been allowed to stay in other threads.

So, what makes this one a "spam post"? Is it the author or the content?

 

[COLGeek]

The post had an embedded link in it. The words were copied from earlier in the aforementioned thread.

You just saw the notice. The deletion was afterwards. When you went to the thread, it had already been removed. Thus, the missing post.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

OK, thanks for the explanation.

Glad somebody is checking imbedded links, so that I don't end up at a malicious site.

I guess my take-away lesson is to not click on a link in the notification e-mails. Instead, go to the actual forum posting before clicking on a link in a post.

Please keep up the good work.

 

[Wolfshadw]

This issue you experienced was with a hidden link in the updated (and deleted) post. A (now banned) user had hidden a link in their post. <---- The period is a hidden link. This is what some spammers attempt to do. We usually do catch and delete them.

-Wolf sends

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Wolf, I do see that the period you highlighted in your post as a hidden link comes up as a link when I hover my cursor on it.

But, I am not seeing anything (period or other) come up as a link when I try hovering on things that are in the notification e-mail. There are links in the notification e-mail that are normally there, same as yours, for user name, Space.com Forums, the thread title, the "View Thread" button, and "watched threads". So, does one of those go somewhere other than where it is supposed to go? Or was the hidden link in that post not included in the notification e-mail?

I hope I am not being a pain, but I am trying to learn about any hazards.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Unless the notification e-mail shows the actual post content, it's perfectly safe.

-Wolf sends

 

[Unclear Engineer]

As I said, the e-mail notification contains a copy of the (later deleted) post content, along with some added links that are active. My experience with cutting and pasting text with links leaves those links active in the e-mails that I create and send. So, I am expecting that the notification e-mails I receive from Space.com, which contain what seem to be copies of the new post content, would have any "hidden links" still in the active mode. However, checking the one that I copied into my reply #3 to this thread, I am not seeing any active links that are "hidden", just the active links that are normally put into those e-mails by Space.com, itself.

So, I am trying to figure out if those hidden links are a hazard to me when reading the Space.com notification e-mails, or if they have already been removed by the time I see them quoted in those e-mails.

 

[COLGeek]

I believe you only see the text portion of a post in a notification. There should be no risk.

 

[Tmos]

However, when I attempt hovering over items in the notification email, nothing (period or otherwise) appears as a link. Similar to yours, there are links in the notification email for the user name, Space.com Forums, topic title, "View Thread" button, and "watched threads." Therefore, does one of those depart from its intended location? Or was the notification email missing the hidden link from that post?