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I know there is no gather-it-all help page in PhotoSE, but bits of advice, info, tips and help are scattered to places where they matter the most. Okay, that's nice and convenient.

It took me this long (member for 47 days) to realise that the last number of the link I get, when clicking the Share-button under each post, is my personal ID-number in PhotoSE. It just came to me like "hey, that's a familiar number from somewhere..."

And the ID-number was something I found out about a week ago, when I needed it. I had to really search to get to know it, though I now know it is and has always been right there in the browser address when I click to see my own profile. So far it had been just a number without meaning. Maybe I'm not as sharp anymore as what I once used to be. Age tames me :(

Actual reason why I'm asking, is that I can't make a link directly to an answer. I use the share-link under an answer to get the link and copy/paste it to where I need it, but the address always brings me to the question, top of the page, not down to the answer. Perhaps it is my browser acting up, or is it supposed to work like that?

And the question is: where is such a page I could learn these things?

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The short permalink should result in a redirect. For instance, the short link to mattdm's answer here is:

http://meta.photo.stackexchange.com/a/3933/2719

The "a" means it's an answer, "3933" is the post number, and "2719" identifies mattdm. The server should be resolving that to:

http://meta.photo.stackexchange.com/questions/3932/where-is-the-help-page/3933#3933

Since there's a named anchor at the beginning of each response, your browser should be attempting to scroll down to that response (or as close as it can get if the page is not tall enough to scroll it all the way to the top). If you have a tall screen and a short page, it might not scroll at all. The odd short link format is supposed to make sure that the page is assembled with mattdm's answer on it (pagination might mean that the answer wouldn't be on the first page, depending on the user's tab settings).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for confirming it. This means it is my browser not getting it right. It was those /a/ in the link, and then in the opened-up address the anchor "#" innit, that made me think I should get taken directly to an answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Esa Paulasto
    Commented Apr 17, 2013 at 4:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ The last number in short link actually identifies the sharing person, not author of post (so you could earn the sharing-related badges). \$\endgroup\$
    – Imre
    Commented Apr 18, 2013 at 7:47
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The basic help is under https://photo.stackexchange.com/about. That doesn't cover all the advanced topics, though. Things like the user number you kind of just find out as you get more involved with the site.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, the About is quite good teacher of the basics. Reading it should be made mandatory before the system lets people post anything on the site. There is even a timer in there, to measure how long did a person stay on that page! :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Esa Paulasto
    Commented Apr 17, 2013 at 5:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ No idea we had user numbers until I read this question. Never have needed it or looked for it. I guess I'm not that involved :P \$\endgroup\$
    – dpollitt
    Commented Apr 21, 2013 at 4:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ @dpollitt I'm sure you know plenty of other weird quirks about the site, though. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Commented Apr 23, 2013 at 18:36

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