?Random Link Not Workign

  • Unknown's avatar
    alexanderhammil · Member ·

    I’ve been on wordpress for years and years, and a fixture of the menu at the top of my site for almost the entire time is the random link, which takes readers to a random story from the archives. I’ve been using “?random” to deliver that, as in “https://alexanderhammil.net/?random,” but it appears to have stopped working. Looking through the posts here, it seems like the feature was discontinued then reactivated in 2024. Has it been discontinued again? It was a very useful way for new readers to jump through the backlog!

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    themagicrobot · Member ·

    That’s odd. You’re right that they discontinued it back in July 2024 in the belief that no one was using it. Others soon proved them wrong. Hence, Staff actually listened and it was re-instated. My random link is working today just fine. I’ve added a modlook tag to ask a member of staff to check if it is just your blog affected or they are planning on removing it for everyone once again. I hope not. I find it a useful tool.

  • ahmadbaig1 · Staff ·

    Hi Alexander!

    Thank you for bringing this up!
    You are actually right! The “?random” link is not working on your website- http://alexanderhammil.net/, while it may be working for @themagicrobot.

    That is because this feature currently only works on sites that do not have plugins installed on them. Once a plugin is installed here on WordPress.com, the architecture changes slightly, and so this feature is not available on plugin-enabled sites.

    However, not to worry, you can still use a random redirect using a plugin such as Better Random Redirect.

    Let us know if you need any more help!

    PS- Thank you for testing @themagicrobot

  • Unknown's avatar
    alexanderhammil · Member ·

    Thank you, that does appear to have fixed the problem! I wish I hadn’t made a typo in the literal subject line of the post, but that’s what I get for trying to fix something at one in the morning.

  • staff-jeev · Staff ·

    Hi Alexander!

    I’m really glad to hear that the plugin did the trick! And no worries at all about the typo, we’ve all had those late-night fixes that come back to surprise us later. 😊

    If anything else comes up or you need a hand with another part of your site, feel free to reach out anytime. We’re always happy to help!

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