While beta-testing my directory, I've tried to modify a site listed with URL http://www.website.com/. I did not remember was it http://www.website.com/ or http://www.website.com or http://website.com/ or http://website.com. Actually the real site reacts properly on all the 4 URLs and nobody cares to remember was that slash there in the end or not. Moreover, I discovered that one won't get http://www.website.com/ even in *search results* if http://website.com was looked for! Every site has its unique ID. Is it possible to make a web site lookup ID-based? Is it possible that a webmaster willing to modify his resource will get a form with old information in the fields already? Most often only one or two fields need to be modified.

Well, you can try using the new modified links script, which uses LINK ID, URL, and Contact Email...and then delete out the URL from the modification. (I believe that there is also an older password protected script that uses LINK ID and Contact Email in the Resource Center.)

Regards,

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Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
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Hi, Eliot!
Did you mean there is a newer version of Links than 2.0? Or if there is a new mod added in the past 7 days, could you give me an URL? I have seen this older (?) "secure" script in Resouces. Actually, it has inspired my initial message. This script makes things even less handy, and security is very questionable, because a lot of webmasters leave their e-mail addresses as bare mailto links on the front page of their site. You may say it's not administrator's business whether webmaster announce his e-mail on his website or (why not then?) his telnet password, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that I'll most probably get more annoyed users, and part of them will just drop away.

The point is that normally a website can be called by 4 names which are "the same" and valid for browser and webmaster, but are 4 different things for database. And what if a webmaster deciedes to point a link from directory to another page? Most webmasters have several e-mails which all are SAME VALID addresses for sending mail (as mail is delivered to one and the same mail recipient after all), but are different for database. So URL and e-mail address are not good for identifiers. Besides, there IS a database identifier (ID) for that purpose. Its prime function is to IDENTIFY.