Some Advice on Linking to OAImages.com
Posted in OAImages News by John E. Pannell on June 10th, 2007 at 10:20 pm Lately I am seeing many collectors linking to this site in their email, internet group posts, websites and even sometimes eBay auctions.
Often this link is in an email reading something like, “I (have to trade)/(am looking for) a (issue number) from lodge (lodge name/number). See (oaimages link here).” It is apparent from how this is often done that most don’t have a good idea about the workings of the site. I wouldn’t expect that, so I offer up some advice on what is my preferred method for users linking to OAImages.
Commonly links to my site are made directly to the link on the lodge page that is created when one clicks on a listing. These links take a form looking like this:
http://www.oaimages.com/cgi-bin/buildpage.cgi?pp=70c&dd=5&ii=1379 (currently pointing to a 70 S1)
The more tech-savvy users out there might see a potentional problem with this link. It is the output of a CGI script, a script run on my server and not a webpage. As such it may not always work properly when called from outside my site. In order to preserve band width and maintain security, many webmasters prohibit the execution of scripts called from “off site”. I have done this myself, from time to time, as needed.
The bigger problem with this will not be apparent to any but the most observant of users. The output generated from this script, as called, is a dynamically created page. The variables after the question mark tell the script where to find the necessary information in the databases that power this site in order to create this page. Here’s the big catch: This is not static! The site was deliberately created this way for various reasons not of any general interest.
The link will change as the site is updated and grows. As I write this post that link will create a page showing the S1 from Tsoiotsi Tsogalii lodge. In the future it will surely point to a different image and likely even a different lodge. You’ve added the link to make things easier for your trading partners and it will end up causing you all more confusion. That’s certainly not what you wanted!
The preferred way to link to this site is to link to the lodge page in question and refer to the issue like this:
- “…I have a Tsoiotsi Tsogalii 70 S1 that I would like to trade for other current standard flaps…” or
- “…I have a Tsoiotsi Tsogalii 70 (http://www.oaimages.com/70c.shtml) S1 that I would like to trade for other current standard flaps…”
Both work well. It’s not an inconvenience for a visitor to scroll down the page to the S1 in order to indentify the patch in question, clicking on the link if he can’t tell what it is from the Blue Book description.
By using the lodge page, you’re posting a static link, very unlikely to change over time. It is clear to those reading your mail or post what you are referring to. It also calls up a page that is largely text which in some cases might still load faster than a page with the patch image on it. Lastly, you’re not remotely trying to call a CGI script that you might not always have access to.
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