Yahoo Store generated links with '+' are switched to '%2B'

which causes them to fail!

[desertjedi]

When we give advertisers tracking links to attach to our banner ads, they include '+' signs. These links are Yahoo Store-generated. When I provide the tracking link to the advertiser, sometimes the link ends up with '%2B' substituted for the '+'.

I don't know how they're entering the link but however they're doing it, it's putting in the %2B. I know because I look at the source behind their page.

This is the second advertiser with which this has happened and right now my banner link is busted.

Any advice on what I could tell the advertiser to do on this would be greatly appreciated. I've written them an e-mail asking them to edit their page using Notepad.

[kaled]

%2B is merely the hex encoded version of the '+' character. It should not be difficult to arrange for tracking code to accept this as an alternative to '+'.

Kaled.

[desertjedi]

Thanks but I have no access to the internal workings of the Yahoo Store platform.

To me, this seems to be an HTTP spec-related problem. HTTP will not translate the %2B into a '+' and then resolve the link. It simply takes the link as is and internally must come up with a 404 error which then takes the shopper to the main Yahoo page - not to my store.

I've seen similar workings when people imbed blanks in their URLs.

[tedster]

True, but as their client you can bring up the issue. Sounds like something they really should address.

[desertjedi]

The advertiser went into Dreamweaver and deleted the link and then re-entered it a few times...?...and it magically worked. She must have muttered the magic phrase.

[larryhatch]

We have seen all sorts of problems with characters like * - _ & etc.

Personally, I avoid them like the plague. The only characters I put into
any part of a URL, aside from the necessary dot, : and / are the
26 letters of the alphabet and ten numerals 0 thru 9. - Larry