Guild Wars 2

There are times when people post things in guild chat (as a perfect example, a link to a website), and we can’t copy from the chat. I don’t see anyway to copy chat, or dump things into a log from chat. Is this something that was done on purpose? And if not, is this something that will be considered for the future?

You can always print screen if you just want a copy of the words, but as for hyperlinks, that was intentional by ArenaNet so people can’t spam explicit or illegal websites in chat. Imagine the power of gold sellers, for example, if they were able to post links in chat.

The OP meant copying text to your clipboard, not direct hyperlinks. I would also love to see it being possible; now when a guildie posts a link, TS address or whatever, you literally have to type it letter by letter and alt-tab between the game and your web browser every few characters.

Hevoskuuri.3891:

The OP meant copying text to your clipboard, not direct hyperlinks. I would also love to see it being possible; now when a guildie posts a link, TS address or whatever, you literally have to type it letter by letter and alt-tab between the game and your web browser every few characters.

That’s what they were responding about. Copying the text of a hyperlink and pasting it in general still results in a hyperlink. It is exactly as it was said, to prevent spam of website links being pasted into the chat. Its inconvenient for legitimate discussion, but ultimately it’s a benefit to preventing gold sellers, spammers and people who would,abuse the chat by pasting the same thing over and over again.

You could always ask for a shortlink for any long annoying site addresses. If the person is in your guild it should not be too hard for them to do or a big ask.

P=Random Player

If a gold seller (or any other player) does a post containing a link:

Case 1) [As it’s now] P has to write letter after letter in browser to see the link, P must has the intention of doing so, can’t be done by mistake. It’s really annoying to copy a link that way.
Case 2) [Being able to copy text] P has to copy the link and paste it, quite simple and fast, P must still has the intention to open that link, can’t be done by mistake. Faster than Case 1.
Case 3) [Hypertext enabled with just a click] P has to simply click the link to open it, it can be done by mistake and can lead to annoying pages. Fastest option though.

In my opinion Case 2 would be the best, something like Case 2>Case 1>Case 3.

There’s a delicate balance between “most secure” and “most convenient.” ANet wants to reduce the possibility that people will be directed to gold selling sites and to sites that might hijack or rick roll.
The most efficient way to do that is to disable linking entirely. That creates a minor inconvenience for players and a major inconvenience for unscrupulous posters, including gold sellers.