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I did create a long question on Stack Overflow which took me about two hours and then I wanted to publish it. Unfortunately it suddenly showed me then, that I am not allowed to post more than eight links and not any pictures with my current reputation.

My question contains about 15 links and three screenshots and it makes not much sense to post it with less information.

Why is this information not shown during the creation of the question?
I would have noticed this limit much earlier and I would not have spent so much time to compose a question which I cannot post later.

Edit 1:
I was in the meanwhile able to post my question on Stack Overflow by removing links with backticks as Rene recommended. It caused me then further delays by system-messages like "You can only post once every 40 minutes." and "You can only post once every 90 minutes." even I did not post any questions there in the meanwhile.
I think there is some potential to improve the UX on the Stack Exchange platform.

Improve this question
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  • 1
    I admit there is no information or link related to your privilege level and you can only learn that you're lacking privileges by looking up the next privilege levels, for example: stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/new-user
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 13:40
  • 2
    I can't deny that a question with 15 links is probably well researched and 3 screenshots to support the text that took you 2 hours to compose probably doesn't lack clarity but I fear if it will fly without seeing the whole question.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 13:45
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    For the moment what you can do is "demote" the links and images to code by enclosing the links in backticks. That will not trigger the total link / image count and if you leave a comment directly after posting saying you couldn't due to rep include all the links an user might come along and make an edit to convert those code links into real links again.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 13:49
  • 2
    If your question is due for Stack Overflow, mind going over the checklist and this external site for pre-emptive guidance.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 13:52
  • I don't see a reason to not show this limit information if you exceed it while you are typing the question. Right now these limits only show up when you hit "Review your question.", but not before. The question is related to a Web Service communication and it contains some texts like "127.0.0.1:24727/waitForChange?session=xxx" which are considered and counted as links, even if it is not meant as link to click for someone.
    – Michael Uray
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 13:54
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    Those links should be code anyway, you're not expecting users to click those to get anywhere useful. Enclose them in backticks
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 13:56
  • There is a validation-body call done when the focus is lost on body text-area. I'm amazed that the warnings you got aren't shown at that moment and only pop-up after clicking review. That is indeed a tad late in the process
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 13:59
  • I have tried to enter and leave the text field a couple times, but it does not show any warning unless you clock on review.
    – Michael Uray
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 14:02
  • Now I did edit my post by reducing links with backticks as you recommended and it shows me now "You can only post once every 90 minutes.", even I did not create a post in StackOverflow before. Before that, it showed me "You can only post once every 40 minutes." in SuperUser, even I did not post a question there, I did only post this question here within this day.
    – Michael Uray
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 14:17
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    The system is not helping here. It now hits the rate-limiter. This is all very unfortunate but you have to wait for the limit to expire. I'm sorry it is such a pain. probably relevant: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/306651/…
    – rene Mod
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 14:24
  • No sure what triggered the 40 minutes rate limiter and now the 90 minutes one. There is no one else posting from my public IP address nor my user. I just hit the "Post your question" button a couple times to check if the amount of links is accepted now. I only commented there to this question, but I did not create other questions somewhere on the StackExchange platform.
    – Michael Uray
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 14:33
  • Duplicates: exact duplicate (tagged status-completed), general limits, exclude localhost, for link limit on answers, and this question with an incorrect answer, by Tim Lear.
    – Rob
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 14:37
  • 2
    @rene seeing that that dupe is tagged completed, but not with a very usefull implementation (probably even outdated) I think this post has merit. (I know you didn't CV, but just for others that follow)
    – Luuklag
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 14:46
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    The number of links limit is a very unexpected restriction, and very likely to unnecessarily frustrate users. It also probably doesn't do anything useful, I find it hard to believe that this prevents a lot of spam that wouldn't be caught by any of the other systems. It's a very user-hostile mechanism, but SE is too stubborn to change it.
    – Mad Scientist
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 14:52
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    Michael, either the bug has reoccurred or the logic wasn't implemented thoroughly in the first place. Over the years things evolve and sometimes things fall apart from the intended end-use. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, as higher level users we don't see these hurdles.
    – Rob
    Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 15:18

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