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Ask HN: An archived HN comment is hurting my web app. Can I remove it?

7 points by averageweather ↗ HN
There is a link to a bad URL in this comment thread: Ask HN: What simple tools or products are you most proud of making? http://hn.premii.com/#/comments/12957371

I'm still getting clicks on it and I think people then give up on my site. I actually don't allow people to get weird URLs anymore.

Can I get this removed?

9 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 35.5 ms ] thread
gus_massa
I'm not a mod, just curious. I'm confused. You have two links there. Which one is the one you don't like? The direct one or the medium post? Can you edit the medium post? Can you put a redirect in your server to the other link?

Usually more traffic is good. I don't understand how is this hurting your site. I read the linked article and I don't understand what you mean with "I actually don't allow people to get weird URLs anymore.".

Anyway, if you want to contact the mods, it's better to write a message to hn@ycombinator.com

averageweather
Thanks. I'll email them.

Sorry. Crap post from mobile.

Someone references my site having a weird URL in the comments for averageweather.io. The Tokyo URL and I keep seeing people hit that link and then bounce off the site because that link is now an handled error page.

dangrossman
You seem to want the traffic, so why not take the moment to write a redirect for this specific URL in your proxy or web server configuration? Make it point somewhere that works, and your problem is solved without editing the old comment. You don't have to change your URL scheme for the rest of your site, just make one exception.
Jugurtha
Add a 302 (permanent) redirect to make the most out of the old link. This way, the link will actually help your web app because it'll sort of transfer the weight (search engine wise) to the new link.

I don't know what your setup is, but you can search for "302 redirect [SETUP]". There's a chance you're on Apache, look into `.htaccess`. If you'd rather not tinker with that, your hosting provider will most likely have a graphical user interface to add redirects.

All the best,

averageweather
gunicorn --- thanks, I'll look into this.
webtechgal
Placing the following line in the .htaccess file (at your web root) should do the trick, while retaining any possible link juice (for SEO) flowing into the old URL:

Redirect 301 /old_file /new_file

ronsor
Its 301 -- 302 is temporary
Jugurtha
I don't know how I got that wrong. Thanks for correcting it.