I would be very surprised if wp (tinymce) processed a short code in the link field…  and that insert link is really all wp (and tinymce)… simple press does not interact…

 if this worked before, not sure what wp or tinymce changed…  a couple versions ago, wp did switch to a complete rewrite of tinymce, so its possible you shortcode plugin needs to be updated to be compatible with the new tinymce (version 4.x)…

Thanks for the feedback!

But placing the shortcode in the link field when adding it in a blog post or page does render the URL properly. It only appends the topic URL when attempting to do the same in a forum post…

So do I read from this that it is achieved with a TinyMCE add-on button? If this is the case then it is still possible that while it works on the WP write post/page it will not work on the forum page. Many authors who write add-ons for the WP TinyMCE make the false assumption that it can only be used on the back-end admin side of the site. This is not the case but is an easy mistake to make. If this problem first occurred when WP updated to TinyMCE V4 then this could be the issue.

Another possibility – although less likely – would be that you need to set the shortcode in the forum options > Content Settings. Less likely because, if it IS a TinyMCE add-on, then the transition from shortcode to url would almost certainly be carried out prior to the SP filters kicking in to the post content. Another good reason to suspect the add-on in fact.

Yellow Swordfish said
So do I read from this that it is achieved with a TinyMCE add-on button?

Nope, no add on, no TinyMCE button.

The Anti-Splog plugin, renders the current signup URL via the shortcode.

If I enter the shortcode in the URL field when assigning a link in a blog post or page like “sign up here“, the highlighted text will be properly assigned the correct signup page link, even when it changes daily.

If I attempt to do the same thing in a forum post, the URL renders, but it gets appended to the topic URL. If I use the shortcode by itself in a forum post, the URL renders but it does not become a link.

I’ll try filtering codes in the SP Admin and allow this one, but that would mean adding all the shortcodes I may want to use in the forums. I’ll report back on the results.

I know this is a very specific issue. I don’t expect you to expend too many brain cycles on it, but I do appreciate the feedback!

FYI: Filtering shortcodes in the SP Admin and adding the code to the allowed list made no difference.

Placing the shortcode in a forum post on a line by itself renders the proper URL, but it is not an active link.

Pasting it into the URL field when adding a link in a post still just appends the topic URL, as I described previously.

I’m sure you have more important things to run down, so I appreciate your thoughts but don’t expect any magic fix for this. Just thought I’d inform you of the issue.

I can continue using my workaround of directing users to a different page than the random signup URL.

Thanks again!

Let’s step back again.

What is the plugin that deals wit this shortcode? Is it freely available for people to try?

OK, thanks. But please don’t feel the need to spend a lot of time on this rather specific issue. I’d be interested in hearing if others face this particular problem, with this or other plugins. But if you’re up for the challenge…

Anti-Splog is a premium plugin from WPMU Dev. It is not free, but I doubt they would mind sending along a copy for testing purposes, if you like.

The plugin is specifically for multisite installs. It has an option that rotates the wp-signup URL with a random address every 24 hours, which helps eliminate spam blog registrations. It comes with a shortcode and template tag that can be used to insert the link in posts, pages, or theme files.

This is clearly no show-stopper, but rather a nuisance. Thanks again for your thoughts! If you’d like the plugin file, I can email it. But I do feel bad asking you to put effort into this, when I’m certain you have other fires to put out.

go ahead and send it along to support at simple-press dot com…  we can look as time permits…