[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #5270: Remove user profile history links to closed/moved/archived content

[Making WordPress.org]

#5270: Remove user profile history links to closed/moved/archived content
----------------------------+--------------------
 Reporter:  jonoaldersonwp  |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect          |     Status:  new
 Priority:  high            |  Milestone:
Component:  Profiles        |   Keywords:  seo
----------------------------+--------------------
 User profile pages, like https://profiles.wordpress.org/zebulan/, contain
 an 'Activity' feed. This contains links to posts/comments/replies on forum
 posts/threads.

 When those forum posts/threads are deleted, moved or archived, those links
 now inadvertently point to a URL which returns a 404 error.

 E.g., many links from the example profile above direct the user to
 https://wordpress.org/support/topic/i-can-see-the-big-picture-and-i-am-
 looking-forward-to-it/, which no longer exists (or is not publicly
 available).

 This is a significant UX and a SEO problem.

 To address this, when a forum post is made non-public, we should
 automatically un-link ''comment'' and ''topic'' links from Activity feeds
 when the respective post is made non-public. Alternatively, the Activity
 feed should check the status of the referenced post, and alter its
 behaviour accordingly.

 I suggest transforming the `<a>` to an `<s>` (and removing the href
 attribute), though we may wish to decorate this with a tooltip/similar for
 accessibility purposes.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/5270>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
Making WordPress.org