"[so]" shouldn't auto-expand to "Stack Overflow" in chat and comments

Question

If you type [so] in chat, it auto-expands to "Stack Overflow". This is a problem in https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/95/english-language-usage, since you might type "so" in brackets to indicate an editorial change in a quote.

This happened in this chat message.

The same behavior occurs in comments (including on EL&U).

Proposed fix

Disable the expansion for [so] and [So], at the very least on EL&U and its chat rooms.

Note that you can still use the [SO] expansion for Stack Overflow. I expect most people already use the capitalized abbreviation for SO anyway.

I think you can put ``` marks around it so that it's not interpreted by the editor. Unfortunately, the [] notation is used throughout the network for certain shortcuts, so I don't see this changing, and I'd hardly call it a bug. People just need to learn how to use the editor. ;) — jmort253, Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 3:43
@jmort253: Those marks make it look ugly, and they draw attention to the formatting, which is usually unwanted. — Cerberus_Reinstate-Monica, Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 4:39
I kinda doubt anyone capitalizes these intentionally; the whole point is to save keystrokes. — Shog9, Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 5:03

Cerberus_Reinstate-Monica · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-27 04:42:16Z

7

I agree. It was funny, but wrong. I would like to see this changed. Normal words in square brackets should not change into something unexpected: it is as unfortunate as some websites that change :) into a smiley. shudders It should be changed into something like [[so]]; there is a reason Wikipedia uses double brackets, not singles.

edited Sep 27, 2012 at 4:42

answered Sep 27, 2012 at 3:34

Cerberus_Reinstate-Monica

4,1924 gold badges21 silver badges20 bronze badges

Same thing happens in comments. Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow [so] Stack Overflow Stack Overflow
– Mechanical snail
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 3:54
2

@Mechanicalsnail: Waaaaahh....
– Cerberus_Reinstate-Monica
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 4:40
10

Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow Stack Overflow
– Lorem Ipsum
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 4:48
1

That's a really long comment. Perhaps the longest ever!
– jmort253
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 4:55
@yoda: Some of them didn't expand. Is this a separate bug?
– Mechanical snail
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 5:03
@yoda: Just...wow.
– Cerberus_Reinstate-Monica
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 5:04
1

@jmort253 Not the longest ever!
– Himanshu
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 7:24
@Mechanicalsnail The reason for not expanding tags are automatically added zero-width whitespace characters, so words with to many characters can break and fit properly in the container. See meta.stackexchange.com/q/117563/168146
– kapex
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 11:35
@yoda: See the following:
– Mechanical snail
Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 2:02
1

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– Mechanical snail
Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 2:03

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-20 10:30:44Z

10

This is a year-old feature, documented here, meant to ease the lives of everyone who's constantly pointing users towards the various sites in the SO family or the FAQ.

The request and subsequent answer describing the completed feature were well received (126 and 109 net votes currently), so unless this question sees significant support, it's unlikely to be turned off globally.

The selective disabling you suggest is certainly possible, but might involve significant work for what's a fairly esoteric use-case (editorial changes in quotes of a limited number of magic words). Obviously the use-case is common enough that you stumbled onto it, but I would want to see some numbers relating to magic link usage before deciding that it's more useful to have [so] not auto-expand in chat/comments.

Selective disabling also invites future questions/bug reports on Meta about why the magic links don't work on EL&U.

edited Mar 20, 2017 at 10:30

CommunityBot

1

answered Sep 27, 2012 at 4:29

blahdiblah

16.3k2 gold badges51 silver badges69 bronze badges

Ah,,, i was searching for this question, good that you have found it, +1
– Lucifer
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 4:40
1

@Lucier: Why can't it be changed into something like [[so]]? There is a reason Wikipedia uses two brackets, not one.
– Cerberus_Reinstate-Monica
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 4:41
1

@Cerberus, You should contact to the developer who developed it, Its not me.
– Lucifer
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 4:44
@Lucier: Oh oops, I meant to address Blahdiblah, my apologies.
– Cerberus_Reinstate-Monica
Commented Sep 27, 2012 at 4:47

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hammar · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-29 08:11:29Z

4

Workaround: escape with backslashes

You can avoid this problem (and any similar problem with Markdown-reserved characters) by escaping them with a backslash. This removes all special meanings for the following character. For example, to write [so], the corresponding Markdown is \[so\].

answered Sep 29, 2012 at 8:11

hammar

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[so], you're right! It works!
– jmort253
Commented Sep 29, 2012 at 8:19

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sehe · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-03 23:37:09Z

3

I love the magic links!

I use those probably 20 times a day (~1.1k chat messages per week chat messages).

Whereas, I probably have never yet put the word so in 'editorial brackets'. Make that \[so] and: problem solved

So no, I don't think it should be 'fixed', (in fact I'd love it if it were easier to link to questions/answers like this [post:123456], but I digress).

edited Oct 3, 2012 at 23:37

answered Sep 27, 2012 at 6:53

sehe

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