Odd Issue

[alphacaveman]

When someone posts a thread to Facebook, no matter what the thread, the main page of the forum is pulled. That doesn't happen with other websites and I'm wondering if it's an SMF issue. The forum is http://www.gracecentered.com/christian_forums and if you put a link to a thread on Facebook (you don't have to post it, just put it in the message box so it can pull the info) it will just pull the browser title and meta data from the index page.

Any ideas?

[Kindred]

yup...   it will --  I suggest installing something like Optimus Brave and/or one of the FB mods which adds ogg tags

[alphacaveman]

Thanks.

[alphacaveman]

I installed Optimus Brave and it didn't fix that issue. Was there a specific feature of it that I need to adjust?

Or do I need one of the Facebook mods you mentioned?

[alphacaveman]

I looked for Facebook mods but didn't see any that added ogg tags. What are those and which Facebook mods do that? Thanks a lot.

[kat]

I don't do Facebook and I'm never likely to.

So, I can't, really, help much.

Anything here?

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?action=search;basic_search=Facebook

[alphacaveman]

No, all those mods are for buttons to go on the forum so people can like a post. But what's happening here is that when someone does try to like a post or post a post's link on Facebook, Facebook is pulling the data from the main page of the forum rather than the particular post.

That's a big deal even if you don't use Facebook because if your users do and they try to share a post, they're less likely to do so. But when you share pages on other websites, Facebook doesn't have this problem at all. I hope somebody knows something about this.

[kat]

Ah. That doesn't make much sense, to me, coz I don't do Facebook.

Let's hope that somebody who does see this and can help you out.

If nothing happens, after a day or three, feel free to unceremoniously bump this.

[Kindred]

how about this one:
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=3153

or this one:
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=2111


basically, it looks like facebook is 10 years behind in the URL parsing...   they are treating urls the same way that Search Engines did 10 years ago... everything after the index.php? is ignored... stupid facebook.

[MrPhil]

basically, it looks like facebook is 10 years behind in the URL parsing...   they are treating urls the same way that Search Engines did 10 years ago... everything after the index.php? is ignored... stupid facebook.

FacePlant is a bunch of morons... rich, but still morons. Anyway, maybe this is a place that SEO would help, so you don't have the URL Query String?

[alphacaveman]

MrPhil,

If you're talking to me, I don't know exactly what you're asking me. But I'd sure like to get this issue cleared up because it could mean a lot of traffic to all of us.

[Kill Em All]

I believe he means something from here.
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?action=search;type=14

I never used optimus brave, so take a look around the settings for it, you might have to change a few things maybe? If not, uninstall and try something from the link above. Maybe Pretty urls is a good choice.

[MrPhil]

What I was suggesting is that if FacePlant is ignoring the UQS (everything after "?"), that using some sort of SEO mod might be helpful, because it will get rid of the UQS and present the information as a series of directory names.

[alphacaveman]

What I was suggesting is that if FacePlant is ignoring the UQS (everything after "?"), that using some sort of SEO mod might be helpful, because it will get rid of the UQS and present the information as a series of directory names.

MrPhil, thanks, but I've been using Pretty URLs for years now which removes the question mark. So that's not it. Wordpress doesn't have this issue and neither does any other forum system (I'm going to different ones and trying it). So I'm puzzled why SMF wouldn't have done something to fix this issue by now. Facebook is the most used website on earth and a primary use is sharing websites. That's pretty important.

Does anyone have any solutions to this?

Thanks.

[Kindred]

I dunno Alpha....

I just tried this on facebook, using this very forum/thread and it successfully pulled data from the thread itself, although there was no excerpt.

on 40konline, I have optimus brave installed and it pulled everything, including an excerpt.

and neither of these sites is using pretty urls...   so maybe THAT is your problem...

[alphacaveman]

Kindred, maybe optimus brave could help. How are you using it if you don't mind my asking? I know there are lots of features to it.

[Kindred]

actually, pretty much the basic configuration. I think the only change I made was to make the title with the forum and board names reversed form the default (topic - board - forum instead of forum - board - topic)

[Kill Em All]

I just tried this on my old forum and it worked without a hitch. Just chiming in, sorry.