Do you click through on "relevant" links?

I tend to click through links on Fluther more than when I am merely surfing the web, because I trust who the link is from. But I won’t if I am not sure who the person posting it is or if it is from someone I don’t trust. One person used to answer some NSFW responses with some links that were pretty kinky. Second time that happened I didn’t click on their links anymore.

If I know the source of the link—for example, if it’s contained in an email message from my brother—I click through. If not, I never do so.

I’m not concerned about relevancy vs. irrelevancy, and I don’t really care if I land on a company’s advertisement. I worry about hitting something rogue and letting all sorts of bad things enter my computer.

Sometimes, not always. And definately not if they’re just for funzies.

Some jellies get confused from time to time and put in dead links, missing links, cuff links or broken links. I’ve learned to live with that and accept it from time to time.

Some jellies are always confused, and I’ve learned to ignore most links, questions and responses from them.

I hover my cursor over them, and see what address appears in the lower left corner. If I can’t figure out what it is from the address, I don’t click on it. If I can, and think it is safe and worthwhile and/or amusing, I’ll click on it. Otherwise, no.

I don’t like it when someone tells me a link is relevant but won’t tell me why. I wish they would tell me what they have linked to. How hard could that be? Just a few words. Won’t take a sec. But no. I have to click on it to see whether it was worthwhile or not. More and more, I ignore them, especially from some users. I hope they see this and decide to provide more information. That’s all I ask. A hint about what lies at the end of the link.

I click through on most Fluther links, unless I don’t trust the user.

It depends a lot on the type of thread. If the thread is a joke thread, I’m not going to click the links, simply because it probably won’t be worth my time. If it’s a legitimately interesting thread, and the answer is serious, then I’ll probably click it.

“Relevant” used as a link title is usually for something funny. If I know/trust the poster, I click.

On this site, I do.
I don’t mind the funny ones and, most of the time, there is “some” relevance to the topic at hand. I find it interesting to see how other minds click.

I like it when it has a title but it is ok too if it just says “here” (or something like that).

I admit my own guilt at providing unspecified links.

I hope they see this and decide to provide more information. A hint about what lies at the end of the link. I agree @wundayatta!

I get frustrated when a question about music is asked and many of the replies look like this: this song

I wish people would answer with the name of the song. I don’t want to click on the link and be surprised. Tell us what the song is please! I might get stuck with an ear worm I do not want!

@jonsblond I think the person posting the “Relevant” link feels a certain amount of glee at the thought of… unveiling the thing at the other end of that link. If they specify what the link is in their post, then there’s no surprise, no discovery, and less humour (which, as @augustlan mentioned, is usually the intent).

This all comes down to people having different styles. Uniformity, not so much fun.

@jonsblond Guilty! I will try to do better in the future. And, @glacial is correct about the unveiling thing. On the flip side, if I know what it is, there is a chance I won’t look at it. If it is vague, I am going to give it a shot and once I am there, most of the time I will listen. Except to Jazz.

@jonsblond said exactly what I was going to say. I rarely click the “relevant” links either, and like @glacial, I check the URL first.

Yeah, if you tell me what it is, there’s a good chance I’ll click through. But if you just leave it at relevant, I won’t. So you lose people by not telling us what you’re giving to us.

I learned this the hard way. I clicked on many of these things to find they were almost universally not funny and irrelevant.

Interesting. I did not realize they were meant to be funny. My impression was otherwise. I guess I can ignore them now that I know this.

Yes. But not when it says “relevant”. I do that on Imgur, not here, on Immature.

@augustlan “Relevant” used as a link title is usually for something funny. If I know/trust the poster, I click.

Indeed. Posting ’‘relevant’’ and having it followed by a click to a link, or some smart ass comment before or after it, is a bit of a famous internet meme, usually when you want to make fun of something, but it is also used when something is actually relevant to a situation.

As such, and as I don’t actually expect most people on Fluther to be master hackers out for my soul or the destruction of my computer, I usually click on them, if I’m arsed to bother.

Relevant

@Symbeline Re your link, :)

@Symbeline Yeah, it’s generally actually relevant (at least somewhat) and funny.