# GitHub "permanent link" bot silently ruined the meaning of my post

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/github-permanent-link-bot-silently-ruined-the-meaning-of-my-post/207842>\
**Category:** Feature\
**Tags:** github\
**Created:** [November 1, 2021, 2:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/github-permanent-link-bot-silently-ruined-the-meaning-of-my-post/207842 "2021-11-01T14:54:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![nylen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/nylen/32/125684_2.png) [@nylen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nylen)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/github-permanent-link-bot-silently-ruined-the-meaning-of-my-post/207842/2 "2021-11-03T14:29:31Z")

</div>

I think this is a good feature, because people often paste links to `master` and these almost always grow outdated over time. Still, it should be possible to intentionally paste a link to a branch as there are many valid reasons to do this. Also generally this feature seems a bit broken, it rewrites things it shouldn’t and doesn’t parse things that it probably should.

Here are some examples that could be used as test cases to fix it:

1. Plain link made by just pasting a URL. I would expect this to be rewritten, and it is: [subdomain-static/forums-enhancements.js at master · ClassicPress/subdomain-static · GitHub](https://github.com/ClassicPress/subdomain-static/blob/master/forums-enhancements.js)
2. Markdown link of the form `[url](url)`. I would expect this link _not_ to be rewritten, because I have explicitly specified both the text and the URL. Instead, the _link text_ is rewritten, and the _link URL_ is not. This is broken: [https://github.com/ClassicPress/subdomain-static/blob/master/forums-enhancements.js](https://github.com/ClassicPress/subdomain-static/blob/master/forums-enhancements.js)
3. URL enclosed in backquotes. This is not a link and should not be rewritten, but it is: `https://github.com/ClassicPress/subdomain-static/blob/master/forums-enhancements.js`
4. URL in a triple-backquoted code block. This is not a link and should not be rewritten, but it is:

```plaintext
https://github.com/ClassicPress/subdomain-static/blob/master/forums-enhancements.js

```

I think only (1) above should be rewritten. This would make the behavior more predictable, and only rewrite “plain” links. Links where a specific markdown structure has been used (can be thought of as a way to express a specific intention) should be left alone.

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