Show Thread Enhancements - External Link Titles, retrieve descriptive titles for URLs

Keywords: SHOWTHREAD, external, link, titles, URLs, SEO

Description:
Retrieves descriptive titles for external posted links. Allows for better link recognition and, in theory, could help increase page SEO.

Details:
I recall this being requested somewhere, so I decided to take a stab at it. This is yet another feature offered in vBSEO.

For those unaware of what this actually does.. by default, when a URL is posted without a description it looks like:
http://www.vbulletin.com

With this modification enabled, it will now look like:
vBulletin.org Forum - The Official vBulletin Resource!

Nicer, eh?

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Installation:

1. Download and import product-linktitles.xml via the Product Manager.
2. Enable the modification via AdminCP > vBulletin Options > External Link Titles Options (it is disabled by default)
3. ???
4. Profit!

Notes:
There's really no magic here, it polls for titles using the cURL() function. If for some reason your host does not have cURL() enabled, you're out of luck.

From time to time you may notice the occasional link that does not get titled -- this is due to either the fact that the url is not active or it either timed out waiting for a response. By default, the system will wait for 5 seconds before timing out. If you wish to modify the timeout, you may do so via the AdminCP.

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Comments:
As with all my hacks, this modification is provided free of charge. However, if you find this product useful and have money burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to make a small donation, I won't mind.. really.

Version History:

• 1.0.0 - Initial release, here's to hoping...
• 1.1.0 - Added the ability to blacklist specific domains from having link titles retrieved (configurable via the AdminCP)
• 1.1.1 - Wrapped returned titles in html_entity_decode(); to return properly decoded HTML characters.

Currently Known Bugs:

• None

* Please note that this modification was developed on a forum with a userbase of 1 (myself). I've tested it for basic functionality but I cannot guarantee functionality or behavior on your forum. So, please -- make backups before installing this product!

[Stoebi]

I've problem with special characters like & in the title.

Example:
http://www.my-vb.de/board/ankuendigungen-my-vb-teams
=>
Ank?ndigungen des my-vB Teams - my-vB - Addons & Styles - Made in Germany


Regards,

Stoebi

[Seb@]

any demo or screenshot ?

[HMBeaty]

Originally Posted by Seb@

any demo or screenshot ?

Screenshot of what???

All it does is change a link, for example you put www.vbulletin.com, it changes it to vBulletin - Home or something like that.

[magnus]

Originally Posted by Seb@

any demo or screenshot ?

If the original description wasn't enough, sadly a demo or screenshot wouldn't help either.

[magnus]

Originally Posted by Stoebi

I've problem with special characters like & in the title.

Example:
http://www.my-vb.de/board/ankuendigungen-my-vb-teams
=>
Ank?ndigungen des my-vB Teams - my-vB - Addons & Styles - Made in Germany


Regards,

Stoebi

Noted. I'll take a look at that, thanks.

[KiD0M4N]

My friend Ad1tya had requested this and here it is. Mod released. Helluva forum guys

Installed and working like charm.

[staff80]

seems it doesn't work on 3.6.6. At least for me. It's enabled and nothing changed.

[HMBeaty]

Originally Posted by staff80

seems it doesn't work on 3.6.6. At least for me. It's enabled and nothing changed.

Works perfectly fine for me

[Surviver]

I would use the function fetch_censored_text() for the title

Greetings Surviver

[C_P]

Originally Posted by Quantnet.org

Installed and enabled the hack. Yes is checked.
Server has curl enabled.

When i post something new and click on review, I have this error at the top of the page

Warning: curl_setopt() [function.curl-setopt]: CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION cannot be activated when in safe_mode or an open_basedir is set in /includes/functions_newpost.php(360) : eval()'d code on line 56

I get similar error and PHP safe mode is not on:
safe_modeOffOff
safe_mode_gidOffOff
Here is my error:

Warning: curl_setopt() [function.curl-setopt]: CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION cannot be activated when in safe_mode or an open_basedir is set in /includes/functions_newpost.php(360) : eval()'d code on line 30

and after i resolves back to thread it was posted in, my http://www.vbulletin.org displays this as the hyperlink:
301 Moved Permanently link test
Now, this could be do the he anonym modification we have installed. If so, we cannot install this but a nice option none the less.