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Does any kind of policy exist in regards to handling potentially "dangerous" links? In this particular case I'm looking at How to crash Microsoft windows internet explorer 11? and removed the http from links that are designed for sites that can crash your browser. I'm kind of wondering whether I should've left them alone or not?

I guess one could argue that most people should be knowledgeable enough to not click those links if they don't need/want to. On the other hand it's easy enough to use them in this form.

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    You handled it in a smart way. The links are still there, but in a less risky form. If someone wants to check them out they need to work a little, which may save some people who would otherwise just click an active link.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Oct 4, 2018 at 9:46
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    @fixer1234 Why did you write that as a comment? Now this question remains unanswered.
    – pipe
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 12:07
  • It's tagged as discussion anyway so there probably is no real answer unless there actually is a policy for such cases. He could've posted it as an answer as well, I agree. I appreciate his opinion nonetheless and it seems that people agree wit him. Thanks for your comment as well.
    – Seth
    Commented Oct 9, 2018 at 12:29
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    Please do. We also do not like link shorteners for the same reason
    – Jan Doggen
    Commented Oct 11, 2018 at 12:27
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    Is crashmybrowser.com really "dangerous" it does nothing without warning you multiple times? Is it thus necessarily to remove the http(s) part from that specific link?
    – Rolf ツ
    Commented Oct 15, 2018 at 14:44
  • The thing I see done is to put it as inline code. Example: https://www.evil-link.tk
    – jkd
    Commented Oct 16, 2018 at 4:33

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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If you want to prevent people from clicking on the links accidentally, the thing I would do is to put them in inline code as to preserve the entire link without making it a link. It also sets it apart from the text.

Example: https://www.evil-link.tk

Real-life example

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You could go to the website with JavaScript disabled. Seeing the HTML/CSS could be useful without any functionality.

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    Welcome to SU & SU Meta. The Meta site focuses on how the main site works and appropriate ways to do stuff on the main site. Seth's question here is about the appropriate way to handle a post containing potentially dangerous links (from the perspective of community moderation), rather than the technical issue of how to use such links safely (i.e., how or whether to modify the original post to protect unwitting readers). But glad you're taking an active interest in the site and volunteering your time to help others. Keep it up (you'll pick up the site culture). :-)
    – fixer1234
    Commented Oct 16, 2018 at 1:22

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