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This question is related to: How do I link to a specific answer?.

Within the set of answers (to a specific question) I may represent like this:

  1. Question 59917

  2. Answer   59918

  3. Answer   87982

I want to use a link toward answer n°3 (which is technically the one which I'd like to refer to because of its technical level).

This function exists, but differential tests (with other Stack Exchange groups and with other browsers) show that there is a relationnal problem between Firefox and Stack Exchange Ask Differnet group.

Look at this particular answer https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/87982 as an example of what I'd like to be able to use. Within Firefox I'm getting tohttps://apple.stackexchange.com/a/59918.

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  • If I click on the link in your question, I get to the answer titled "Apple sysdiagnose". Is this the right one?
    – nohillside Mod
    Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 7:44
  • 1
    → Patrick: right! But for me, this same example link bring me to apple.stackexchange.com/a/59918/22003 . Hence it is perhaps not a SE problem but rather a browser or cookie one. I investigate this and will update or delete my question.
    – athena
    Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 7:55
  • This behaviour can be reproduced: Firefox goes on the wrong answer, where Safari is going correctly to the wanted one. Unless otherwise asked for, I'll remove this question which may let people think that there is a problem where there isn't.
    – athena
    Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 8:19
  • possible duplicate of How do I link to a specific answer?
    – athena
    Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 8:36
  • 1
    Can you post your findings as an answer? I'll tag it as a bug but I wouldn't bet on it getting resolved.
    – nohillside Mod
    Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 8:56
  • @patrix I think this issue is specific to Ask Different. Doesn't happen to me at Money SE. Could be something in the site-specific bits that cause it? I'll post specific examples in an answer below.
    – Chris W. Rea
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 14:37
  • @patrix Could we re-title & update the question to reflect that this is now about the bug? I can't edit the question. (It's a non-wiki meta post.) At the moment, this question doesn't read like it is about a bug in the existing feature, but rather inquiring about the existence of such a feature.
    – Chris W. Rea
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 15:18

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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This looks like a bug between the Javascript in use on StackExchange and Firefox (22.0). When I write:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/87982

within a new Firefox window I see it is immediatly rewritten as:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/59917/how-do-you-get-system-diagnostic-files-from-os-x/87982#87982

And the debugger of Firefox tells me that there are some CSS and Javascript error after this single GET:

[20:22:01.482] Error in parsing value for 'transition'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.482] Unknown property '-moz-background-clip'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.482] Error in parsing value for 'background'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.482] Expected color but found 'top'.  Error in parsing value for 'background'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.482] Error in parsing value for 'filter'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.482] Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.482] Unknown property '-moz-box-shadow'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.482] Unknown property '-moz-border-radius-topleft'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.482] Unknown property '-moz-border-radius-topright'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.483] Error in parsing value for 'line-height'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.483] Unknown property '-moz-border-radius-bottomright'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.484] Error in parsing value for 'white-space'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.484] Unknown property '-moz-border-radius-bottomleft'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.484] Expected 'important' but found 'ie7'.  Expected ';' or '}' to terminate declaration but found 'ie7'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.486] Error in parsing value for 'min-height'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.486] Expected color but found 'White\9 '.  Error in parsing value for 'background-color'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.488] Unknown property '-moz-outline-style'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.490] Expected color but found 'bottom'.  Error in parsing value for 'background'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.490] Unknown property 'zoom'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:01.491] Unknown property 'background-position-x'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://cdn.sstatic.net/apple/all.css?v=8b74d819562e:1
[20:22:02.976] no element found @ http://apple.stackexchange.com/posts/59917/ivc/d31a?_=1375726922643:1
[20:22:02.995] Expected media feature name but found 'view-mode'. @ http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/59917/how-do-you-get-system-diagnostic-files-from-os-x/87982#87982:1
[20:22:02.995] Error in parsing value for 'filter'.  Declaration dropped. @ http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/59917/how-do-you-get-system-diagnostic-files-from-os-x/87982#87982

The 2 last lines are the ones who should go to the right reference within the HTML page.

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  • What is the correct reference then? The two you give are the same
    – mmmmmm
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 19:24
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I'm using Firefox 22.0 on my Mac and I can confirm this defect. It's also an issue with Firefox on Windows. FWIW, I've also seen this behavior with previous versions of the browser.

And yet: I've only witnessed this defect at Ask Different. I'm a moderator at the Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange and spend enough time there and I've never seen this happen at Money.

Consequently, I suspect the issue is related to a difference between how Ask Different has been configured/customized vs. how other Stack Exchange sites behave – or at least, vs. those SE sites that remain plain beta-themed, like Money is, currently.

For instance, on Ask Different, the following link is supposed to jump directly to the anchor for Jeremy Mullin's answer at the corresponding question:

  • https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/11105

    ... But it jumps to the top answer, not the one whose id is in the link. See:

    Erroneous answer anchor jump within page

    (Note that if you scroll down fast enough, you'll at least see Jeremy Mullin's answer flash, like it is supposed to.)

Whereas, at Personal Finance & Money, the following link is supposed to — and does — jump directly to the anchor for fennec's answer:

@patrix had commented on this meta question: "I'll tag it as a bug but I wouldn't bet on it getting resolved." Actually, I hope the difference I've demonstrated above shows this bug has a solution in reach? e.g. Isolate & test the differences between the Ask Different theme and the plain Stack Exchange beta theme. Create a sandbox instance of Ask Different, and remove/revert-to-plain the customized JS, CSS, and other parts, one at a time, until the issue goes away, identifying the errant part. Then, determine the appropriate fix for that errant part.

Alternatively, perhaps the errant customized part can already be inferred from the debugging information presented in the other answer? Such might be obvious to the developer who did the customization work for Ask Different in the first place.

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  • FWIW, on meta, meta.apple.stackexchange.com/a/1784 seems to link to this answer.
    – Daniel Mod
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 15:50
  • @DanielLawson Not on my machine! When I click the link in your comment (which is supposed to go to this answer of mine), I actually see Daniel's answer at the top of the screen instead, though I can see a small portion of my answer flash at the bottom. Of course, which answer you see at top of the screen will depend on how you have answers sorted: active, oldest, or votes. I'm sorting by votes and so Daniel's answer (currently 1 vote to my answer's 0) is listed first. If you're sorting otherwise, it's a coincidence that hides the defect.
    – Chris W. Rea
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 15:58
  • (and if my answer should become the top-voted answer in this meta question, then your link will coincidentally start to work for me, too, while I remain sorted by votes.)
    – Chris W. Rea
    Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 16:01

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