2

I've seen here many people use a specific syntax to have a link added automatically:

example: Lightning Bolt

The problem is that those links, pointing to Wizard's website are broken. Who's in charge of fixing that? This could be done either by fixing the way the searches are sent to Wizards, or by using another source like magiccards.info of scryfall.com?

Is there some source code available for the whole thing?

This is annoying, as if you don't know the cards, you have to search separately and do multiple copy-paste.

18
  • The issue may be that the card name is not spelled correctly as I have run into that in the past where fixing the spelling fixes the link.
    – Joe W
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 11:45
  • This is not the case. In the example I gave, Lightning Bolt is correctly spelled.
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:03
  • What is broken about that link? It directs to the Lightning Bolt Gatherer page just like it is supposed to
    – diego
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:04
  • The link works for me.
    – Joe W
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:12
  • Which browser are you using? I'm on Firefox and the link doesn't work for me
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:13
  • It works fine for me in Chrome and Firefox. What sort of error are you getting? And are you able to get to Gatherer normally? gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Advanced.aspx
    – diego
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:17
  • This is the URL I get, and the gatherer answers "Your search returned zero results;": gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/…
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:19
  • It all boils down to +[Lightning]+[Bolt] versus +[Lightning Bolt] in the search. The first works, the second doesn't. When I look to the web page source, that's the second that is here, so I don't understand how it can work for you.
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:23
  • That link works just fine for me, so I'm not sure why it isn't working for you
    – diego
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:26
  • Could you please right click on the link, select "copy the URL" and paste it here please?
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:35
  • gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/…
    – diego
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 12:56
  • This is the link that works for you? It definitely doesn't for me.
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 13:04
  • This is what I get with your link: i.sstatic.net/QCO2U.png
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 13:06
  • Does this link work for you? gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/…"
    – Joe W
    Commented Oct 13, 2017 at 20:54
  • In a comment below, I posted a link to what Wizards advices to use in link construction, which is the +["Card Name"] syntax. You're using "+[Card Name]", which has the same effect, but is less standard. Both have the same drawbacks. If you know programming, I've made some unit tests to check the syntaxes and their limitations. The code lies at github.com/liberforce/mtg-urlcheck and is under developement.
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 16, 2017 at 8:32

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

The most common cause of a failure like this is Gatherer operating in a language other than English. On the Gatherer Settings page, the bottom option allows you to set a preferred language. Setting that to English may fix this problem.

7
  • 1
    Thanks for finding the root cause. The problem is that this seems to be set by default depending on the locale preferences of the user, so that means all non-english users have a broken search by default :(
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 15:42
  • 2
    This is especially annoying as websites like magiccards.info handle the searches in multiple languages. I wonder if there is a way to force the en-US in the URL ?
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 15:46
  • 2
    you can always link directly to the cards, ie Bear Cub. But I believe most people link using the [mtg: ] shortcut
    – Malco
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 15:58
  • 1
    In fact I saw on Wizards site. They explain how to setup quicksearches on firefox, and how to forge the search link from a card's name. And the way they use it is clear: the name of the card must be enclosed in double quotes characters. This way you don't rely on the cookies of the user. This means boardgames was broken for all non-english users that didn't configured their cookies on the gatherer : gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Help.aspx#firefox
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 16:03
  • 1
    So, I go back to my questions: who has the code so he can fix it? It's a 2-characters patch!
    – liberforce
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 16:03
  • @Malco Even if you do link directly to a card page, there are editors who will go through and change the format of links. That has happened to several post I have seen, particularly an issue for cards with names that match other cards, since the API uses a search.
    – Andrew
    Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 17:09
  • @Andrew did the edits go through, or were they only in the suggested queue? If someone replaces your direct gatherer link with a broken autocard link then unfortunately you will just need to go in and edit it back leaving your reason for doing so in the edit reasons. If they replace it with an autocard link that isn't broken then I would recommend you leave it as there is a chance that autocard might be getting tweaked/fixed in the foreseeable future. Drop into chat if you would like to discuss this a bit more.
    – Malco
    Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 17:17

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .