Livejournal's Latest Fuckery
For those who don't know:
Some people have affiliate codes for Amazon and other similar sites. This means when they link to an item on Amazon, if you buy it, they get a tiny portion of the cost. I don't believe it's much, but it can put a little change in your pocket.
So LJ has decided this is cool for THEM, so they've added a script to their code that adds their affiliate code to Amazon/eBay/etc links you post, so THEY get the reward. It won't strip your affiliate code if you happen to have one (supposedly), but it will check all your outbound links and tack on their affiliate code so they can profit. So if you've noticed "outboundlink.me" running on your LJ pages, that's what that is. (Please note their first run of this fucked things up and stripped users' affiliate codes AND messed up all sorts of links, and their latest update has apparently screwed up people's ability to ctrl-click to open a link in a new tab.)
If you're like me and run Firefox and NoScript (so much safer than Internet Explorer), then you may have noticed that the script is completely screwing with all links. If you click, they don't do anything. You have to right click | open in new tab, or if you click several times in a row, the link will eventually open.
There's a better explanation here (and here), but the jist is if you don't want LJ hijacking your links and redirecting them, you should do this:
* go to the admin console
* enter "set opt_exclude_stats 1" (without the quotes)
* hit execute
This will put an end to LJ's fuckery. (It puts an end to a lot of the crap LJ tries to slip in, actually.) This little known command is actually their official response to complaints. They won't comment on how this is extremely bad form on LJ's part. Not only is it a huge security risk, it's a terrible policy to go modifying your users' content (and altering links is modifying content) without telling them you're doing it, and while trying your best to hide the fact that you're doing it. It's even worse to make that policy, screw it up, take the script down, then go right back to your old tricks. I am extremely uncomfortable with LJ sending my links to a third party, particularly one that has a very sketchy reputation. LJ, I am disappointed.
Some people have affiliate codes for Amazon and other similar sites. This means when they link to an item on Amazon, if you buy it, they get a tiny portion of the cost. I don't believe it's much, but it can put a little change in your pocket.
So LJ has decided this is cool for THEM, so they've added a script to their code that adds their affiliate code to Amazon/eBay/etc links you post, so THEY get the reward. It won't strip your affiliate code if you happen to have one (supposedly), but it will check all your outbound links and tack on their affiliate code so they can profit. So if you've noticed "outboundlink.me" running on your LJ pages, that's what that is. (Please note their first run of this fucked things up and stripped users' affiliate codes AND messed up all sorts of links, and their latest update has apparently screwed up people's ability to ctrl-click to open a link in a new tab.)
If you're like me and run Firefox and NoScript (so much safer than Internet Explorer), then you may have noticed that the script is completely screwing with all links. If you click, they don't do anything. You have to right click | open in new tab, or if you click several times in a row, the link will eventually open.
There's a better explanation here (and here), but the jist is if you don't want LJ hijacking your links and redirecting them, you should do this:
* go to the admin console
* enter "set opt_exclude_stats 1" (without the quotes)
* hit execute
This will put an end to LJ's fuckery. (It puts an end to a lot of the crap LJ tries to slip in, actually.) This little known command is actually their official response to complaints. They won't comment on how this is extremely bad form on LJ's part. Not only is it a huge security risk, it's a terrible policy to go modifying your users' content (and altering links is modifying content) without telling them you're doing it, and while trying your best to hide the fact that you're doing it. It's even worse to make that policy, screw it up, take the script down, then go right back to your old tricks. I am extremely uncomfortable with LJ sending my links to a third party, particularly one that has a very sketchy reputation. LJ, I am disappointed.