Link redirection through go2.wordpress.com

  • Unknown's avatar

    I have a question about some puzzling link behavior that I have noticed in connection with my blog and other WordPress.com blogs. My blog is located at the following URL:

    http://dkidwell.wordpress.com

    This concerns external links that I have created in my posts. I do not set the links to open in a new window. If I right click on these links to open them in a new tab in Internet Explorer 8, I notice that a redirection occurs through the domain go2.wordpress.com before the requested page opens in the new tab. The same thing happens when I right click on one of these links to open the page in a new window. On the other hand, if I just click on one of these external links directly, I am taken to the requested page immediately without the redirection.

    Why does the redirection through go2.wordpress.com occur? Is there a way to keep it from happening? I do not see any reason for this redirection to occur and I would prefer that it not happen.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar

    You’re best chances of finding out the answer to this question is contacting staff directly http://support.wordpress.com/contact Also I will “ModLook” the thread to grab staffs attention for you.

  • Unknown's avatar

    Thank you t3ck. I will attempt to contact staff about this.

  • Unknown's avatar

    You’re welcome dkidwellwpa,

  • The redirection is for a skimlinks ad service we are running.

  • Unknown's avatar

    Thank you nickmomrik. I did get an email from Sheri in Support about this. She said that the redirection is related to the ads that sometimes are placed on WordPress.com blogs and that purchasing the No Ads Upgrade will stop the redirection. I will probably purchase the upgrade. My question has been answered and I appreciate everyone’s help.

  • Unknown's avatar

    This go2 thing is kind of uncool. It breaks some open-link-in-new-tab behaviour – see http://mike.teczno.com/notes/breaking-links.html . I noticed it when I tried to do ctrl+click and links kept opening in the same tab. I thought I was going mad, or my keyboard was broken….

    Having an ad service is one thing, but I don’t think it’s asking too much not to BREAK normal browser functionality!

  • Unknown's avatar

    Thanks everyone for the information. I have been having the same problem (http://50miler.wordpress.com) and it’s been driving me crazy because it is inconsistent. Today, for instance, I asked a friend in Texas to test the links and there were no problems. Likewise, some people in the WordPress Support Forum tested some of my links and they had no problems either. However, when I test the links myself on different computers and browsers, I get a go2wordpress error message almost every time (either “The server at go2.wordpress.com is taking too long to respond” or the link is just broken). Tests by other users get the same bad results. If WordPress is trying to encourage us towards the “No Ads Upgrade,” then OK, but is that really going to fix the problem?

  • Unknown's avatar

    There is a new, similar error being reported today. Hope they fix this stat!

  • Unknown's avatar

    I purchased the No Ads Upgrade for my blog a couple of days ago. I just tested some of the external links in my blog and everything appears to be normal. The redirection through go2.wordpress.com no longer occurs when I right click on a link to open in a new tab or window. I just wanted to let everyone know about this.

  • Unknown's avatar

    Will these skimlinks also appear on WordPress blogs running the custom domain upgrade ?

  • Unknown's avatar

    This is lame. I’m not upgrading, I’m migrating. I have a VPS which I didn’t use because wordpress.com was a good service until now but this go2 link jacking thing sucks. I can’t copy links from my blog anymore.

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