Copy / Pasted URLs No Longer Work In Posts

[djf-coins]

When I click on any eBay hyperlink posted in eBuyer Beware, the listing that the person reported is not displayed. Instead, www.eBay.com is displayed. Here is the last hyperlink posted in eBuyer Beware:

[https:

//redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_161175327259919&key=e4fd14f5d7f2bb6d80b8f8da1354718c&libId=kkfg7u650102qrfu000DL7va5wmdz&subId=cf5531316aa7795df96f485b38130354&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vamworld.com%2Fforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D3%26t%3D34%26start%3D1240&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fbjcoi_30%2Fm.html%3Fitem%3D293966839181%26hash%3Ditem4471c9fd8d%253Ag%253AXJYAAOSwcrlgCiGP%26rt%3Dnc%26_trksid%3Dp2047675.l2562&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vamworld.com%2Fforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D3%26t%3D34%26e%3D1%26view%3Dunread&title=(3)%20Ebuyer%20Beware!%20-%20Page%2063%20-%20VAMWorld%202.0&txt=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fbjcoi_30%2Fm.htm%20...%207675.l2562]

This is not a valid eBay hyperlink.

Did VAMWorld make changes recently? Did the platform make changes recently? Whatever changes were implemented have broken URL links.

I cannot access the reported listings and reported listing summaries. If I cannot view the eBay listings, I cannot validate that the listings violate eBay policies, and I cannot have the listings removed from eBay.

[messydesk]

There have been no changes made to VAMWorld recently. I can currently use links in the buyer beware thread without seeing what you are seeing, and they work fine. I'll look into what might be causing your problem.

[djf-coins]

When I click on hyperlinks in eBuyer Beware posts in Google Chrome (my primary browser), and an old version of Internet Explorer, the links are redirected to:

redirect.viglink.com, then to
swagbucks.com, then to
p406575.infopicked.com,
then to the wwww.ebay.com home page.

After clearing the cache, the links go to the correct URL for a while (as in a few minutes), then revert back to www.ebay.com home page as identified above.

[messydesk]

Try it now. The VigLink redirect is something that was enabled since day 1, and I just disabled it.

From the phpbb configuration page, "VigLink is third-party service that discretely monetises links posted by users of your forum without any change to the user experience. When users click on your outbound links to products or services and buy something, the merchants pay VigLink a commission, of which a share is donated to the phpBB project. By choosing to enable VigLink and donating proceeds to the phpBB project, you are supporting our open source organisation and ensuring our continued financial security."

I imagine that the length of the URLs in the redirect chain grew enough to cause the eBay link to not work and just bring up a default page. If you have anti-tracking and ad blocking software enabled on your browser, the VigLink redirect will not be invoked, and you'll go directly to the intended link.

[djf-coins]

Bingo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disabling the VigLink did the trick.

Thanks.