Improve Onebox click counting

[jtbayly]

If I put a link into my posts, I see how many people have clicked on the link. But if I put the link on one line, and it gets one-boxed, then I never see any count of the clicks.

This post describes the issue further:

How to educate users about oneboxing

The count for links not Oneboxed are showing now, at least on those that I’ve just seen, but there are still no counts showing for those links which get Oneboxed. I just clicked on the Onebox link in the below screenshot and no number came up. And I do know for a fact that several users have also clicked on the link. It works okay here on Meta, but not on our forum (Discourse hosted). As of yet, no one has complained at all. I don’t even think they realize there is supposed to be a counter to sh…

There are two parts to the answer.

First, you must enable opening links in an external tab. (I don’t understand this, technically, as other links are counted without turning this option on.)

Second…

How to educate users about oneboxing

Please note that you need to click on the first link ( snopes.com ) and not on the title ( Does this photograph... ) to see the number of clicks change.

So, the main link people will click on will never be counted. Again, I don’t understand the technical difference between the links and why one would be counted and not the other.

Regardless of my lack of understanding of what’s going on technically, I’d love to see Onebox link clicks counted consistently.

[JimPas]

I have gone through all the settings in my Dashboard and I have no check boxes to enable opening links in an external tab… but the links do open in another tab already.
We have tried clicking on both the title of an article and the link itself - no counter for either.
Here’s a stickler… for a day or two, the counter suddenly worked, then stopped again. Nothing was changed at all. I’ve also asked a mod and several users if they see any link counts next to the links posted. None have seen them so I know it’s not just me being an Admin.
Like you, I would like to see the Onebox link clicks counted consistently.

Edit: I should point out for link posted after a blank space (so they don’t get Oneboxed), the counter works… just not for Onebox.

[Dax (Daniela)]

I have gone through all the settings in my Dashboard and I have no check boxes to enable opening links in an external tab… but the links do open in another tab already.

I already enabled the setting last week, search for default other external links in new tab. This setting will be applied to all new users who have registered on your site after the site setting has been enabled. Old users can activate it from their profiles (in case we can bulk enable the setting even for old users via console).

We have tried clicking on both the title of an article and the link itself - no counter for either

I tried to click on the two oneboxes in the first two posts of this topic https://forum.nodders.net/t/2019-plastic-waste-and-recycling/167 and the count has increased from 0 to 1. It is possible that the user who did the test was an old user and did not enable the setting for external tab on the profile, or that the user tried to open the link in a new window directly by right-clicking on the link itself.

[JimPas]

It is possible that the user who did the test was an old user and did not enable the setting for external tab on the profile

That’s what probably is happening. I’ll inform everyone that they will have to make the change in their profile… as I. Thank you.

[codinghorror (Jeff Atwood)]

Also note that clicking links in your own post will not increment the counters…