LT should preserve subdomain linking (with a few exceptions)

Priority examples:
a) starting from http://epo.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Translating_LibraryThing
should preserve the subdomain on any link
b) http://epo.librarything.com/about-translation should preserve the subdomain on any link
c) ???

Thanks Annix for http://epo.librarything.com/translations.php ! Dankegon!

P.S. Exceptions are pages as /translations.php ... ???

Give me some examples that don't?

a) epo http://epo.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Translating_LibraryThing
links to hatdcoded www http://www.librarything.com/about-translation
b) epo http://epo.librarything.com/about-translation
links to hatdcoded www http://www.librarything.com/groups/translationissuesgen

This are only two examples. LT should have better tools / search posibilities to identify the places where the subdomains are hardcoded and if it is necesary or not.

Yeah, won't be fixing wiki. The wiki is whatever members type and can't be changed easily. Others?

#4 by @timspalding> He did give a non-wiki example in the OP. Look at example #2. The links are forced to www.librarything.com, not the site you're on. There's no way that I can tell to translate them. Seems like the easy fix is to just edit that (non-wiki, right?) help page and use relative links.

Okay, I fixed that one, and about six others I found quickly. I'm afraid others will have to be done piecemeal.

Thanks for working on this! We should keep an eye on this topic on the entire site.

Indeed. The trouble is that there are quite a few links to www, but most of them are justified when you get into the code. Basically:

1. Links to wiki
2. Links to blog
3. Links in a marketing context where the English is important (eg., publishers)

#8 by @timspalding> Only real way to "fix" it (that doesn't just rely on a human remembering to use relative vs absolute when it's appropriate) is with some meta-layer that gets in front of the content you put on those pages. Frankly, that sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

Just to mention it here: Most links in talks should be relative links / should preserve the subdomain. Exceptions are related to problems specific to documentation or testcases as in this talk. There are some differences:
a) should it be possible in the future to avert when posting absolute links ?
b) what about older posts made by you when entering the topic again? - probably not to happen

#10 by @gangleri> As far as links in Talk, this is a topic you have discussed before, but it really really belongs in RSI. If you re-post it there, I will discuss with my thoughts on how it could be done.

>10 gangleri:

Links created by LT—books, etc.—are all relative. You suggest that if someone posts a LT link we make it absolute. Above you post links to the Esperanto LT. Those should be turned into links to LT.com?

>12 timspalding: "You suggest that if someone posts a LT link we make it absolute. Above you post links to the Esperanto LT. Those should be turned into links to LT.com?"
Maybe the easiest start is to use "css" in talks to distinguish between absolute and relative LT links. Green and red are colors for absolute links people might not like. This will motivate them to use relative links.

Later one could thing about an "selector box" in talk edits. Similar to "Change bug status? We could have "Convert LT links to relative links". This would work also case by case for the edit of older posts.

#12 by @timspalding> I think any such code would have to be very limited. Perhaps just to /topic/* and other Talk URLs. Unless you go all meta and write some more complex UI code which you're probably not interested in.

>12 timspalding: Bump.

I'm not sure whether this is what was being discussed, but if, for example, logged into the Welsh (.cym) subdomain I go to Trafod (Talk) 'Why I voted "no"' message https://cym.librarything.com/topic/188642#5119213:

> The fossil record is relevant to more subjects than just geology.
> https://www.librarything.com/tag/fossil+record

If I then follow the link I am taken to the English (.www) tag page, logged out. Fair enough, it is only a matter a matter of changing 'www' to 'cym' to see the page in the Welsh subdomain, logged back in. Conversely, if I create a link to the same .cym tag page, https://cym.librarything.com/tag/fossil+record, most other users would have to change to their current language subdomain.

However, it would be more elegant if LT could do it out of sight. Two years after the previous discussion, would it now be possible for LT to automatically 'translate' links between .www, .cym, .de, .fr, .it, .es etc. depending on what language you are logged in in?

Closed as superseded by how we do it now.