# Backlinks make certain posts more popular than they should be!
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 17, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362 "2024-10-17T13:58:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gassim](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gassim)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/1 "2024-10-17T13:58:55Z")
This could end up more of a feature request, but here’s the explanation. For instance, in the most popular topic on Discourse [Welcome to meta.discourse.org](https://meta.discourse.org/t/welcome-to-meta-discourse-org/1?silent=true), you can see there are ‘backlinks’ (if this is the accurate word) that became very popular,
However, most of these topics might not necessarily be related. If the discourse team want to clear that list, they’d have to manually go to each topic they don’t want and delete the reference.
Thoughts about this:
- What if we want to sort that list? For instance, I want specific posts to appear at the top of this list in a particular topic. (maybe an option to ‘pin’ a post backlink?
- If I want to remove a topic from that list, I have to go and edit that manually by removing the reference, but what if I don’t want to edit the other topic (since it might actually be important to mention it there) yet I don’t need it to be ‘so popular’ because it referenced the top topic…
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/2 "2024-10-17T14:04:40Z")
> [@gassim](#):
>
> If I want to remove a topic from that list, I have to go and edit that manually by removing the reference, but what if I don’t want to edit the other topic (since it might actually be important to mention it there) yet I don’t need it to be ‘so popular’ because it referenced the top topic…
You could add `?silent=true` to the link. For example [https://meta.discourse.org/t/-/269247?silent=true](https://meta.discourse.org/t/-/269247?silent=true) does not add a link below that post (and it does not notify the author of that post)
---
### Author:  [@gassim](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gassim)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 2:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/3 "2024-10-17T14:15:58Z")
You know, that’s a very helpful suggestion! I had to use ``` to keep the links in the new topics but not get them to be referenced in the top topic, so I’ll actually go back and update that. Thanks!
So for the ‘sorting’ the list and pinning certain ones to the top, it’s probably a feature request, right? 🙂
---
### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/4 "2024-10-17T23:16:50Z")
> [@gassim](#):
>
> So for the ‘sorting’ the list and pinning certain ones to the top, it’s probably a feature request, right?
Yep. The links shown are just links, and are sorted by popularity, not by any other way (yet).
---
### Author:  [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/5 "2024-10-17T23:46:00Z")
> [@Moin](#):
>
> You could add `?silent=true` to the link. For example [Discourse Database with Dummy Data](https://meta.discourse.org/t/-/269247?silent=true) does not add a link below that post (and it does not notify the author of that post)
Very nice. Was not aware of this. Should probably work in a link resource if some sort. I have used swapping username in a link to credit another user with a link. 😉
---
### Author:  [@gassim](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gassim)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2024, 5:06am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/6 "2024-10-18T05:06:55Z")
> [@NateDhaliwal](#):
>
> The links shown are just links, and are sorted by popularity, not by any other way (yet).
Great, thanks! [Ability to sort/pin post backlinks](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ability-to-sort-pin-post-backlinks/331469)
---
### Author:  [@gassim](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gassim)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2024, 5:14am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/7 "2024-10-18T05:14:02Z")
> [@Heliosurge](#):
>
> Very nice. Was not aware of this.
Yeah, looks like a new feature [Disable notifications for watched words link - #6 by Don](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-notifications-for-watched-words-link/285321/6) 🙂
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2024, 5:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/8 "2024-11-17T05:15:02Z")
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
---
### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backlinks-make-certain-posts-more-popular-than-they-should-be/331362/9 "2025-09-25T13:57:21Z")
Funny, for the case of the welcome topic here I have been working through the incoming links to remove them. It’s not just that the welcome topic is more popular than it should be but those links are going to be very confusing and technical sounding to new members here just as they are finding their feet in the community.
Moin helpfully reminded me about the ability to append `?silent=true` to the links to suppress those related links, which I am now doing.
I also moved @thoka’s topic explaining how silent links work to the community wiki: [Add "silent" internal links by appending ?silent=true](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-silent-internal-links-by-appending-silent-true/381536).