Apostrophes Break SL Web Map
tracked
Erik Mondrian
While trying to get a shareable SLurl for Ahab's Haunt the other day from the SL Maps site, I noticed something odd. As can be seen in the screenshots below, the site would return a different region name and SLurl that was
not
for the region I just clicked but instead matched that of another region nearby, often from a previous click.After doing some digging, I'm pretty sure the culprit is the apostrophe in the region name. I tested the maps site on all of the regions I know of that have apostrophes in them, and encountered the same issue. Whether starting "fresh" from https://maps.secondlife.com/ and manually scrolling over to one of those regions (without including its name in the URL, that is) or typing in the region directly, the map would give inaccurate results when clicking back and forth between the apostrophe-containing region and its neighbors.
I imagine it's just a matter of the apostrophe not being escaped properly on the backend? That's my guess, anyway. I should note that I tested on both desktop (Firefox) and on Android (Firefox and the DuckDuckGo browser), all with the same problem.
I also tested the Web map on region names with spaces in them, but those are fine, as are region names with hyphens (in Bay City, for example) and parentheses (like the Combat sandboxes). The only time I encounter this issue is when there's a region with an apostrophe.
I should note too that this issue doesn't present itself in the the viewer's inworld map window. It's apparently just an issue with the Web map.
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Erik Mondrian
Following up on Arduenn Schwartzman's comment below about the guidelines, I took another look (via Tyche Shepherd's Grid Survey) at the thirteen currently active regions that have apostrophes in them. Of those regions, ten appear to be Linden-owned, with the remaining three (Poseidon's Adventure, Qar'Shea, and Teahupo'o) being privately held.
Somewhere along the line, as Arduenn mentioned, the naming guidelines were not enforced, even when the regions in question are in Linden hands and part of mainland. I imagine those guidelines were written that way for a reason; since there are so few regions with an apostrophe, renaming them would probably be a good option, along with stricter enforcement of the naming guidelines going forward.
The six Linden-owned sandbox regions with parentheses should likewise be a simple-ish fix, though I'm admittedly not sure how renaming impacts old landmarks or SLurl-containing scripts, for example. (Do landmarks point to the same region, even if the region itself changes name?)
Not sure what could be done about the 100+ regions with hyphens (mainly in Bay City, the Blake Sea, and Nautilus, along with a few private regions). As I wrote in my initial post, though, it's only the apostrophe that appears to break the Web Map, and I'm also not aware of any problems related to hyphens, either in the viewer or on the web. Maybe the naming guidelines should be updated?
Arduenn Schwartzman
Erik Mondrian
> (Do landmarks point to the same region, even if the region itself changes name?)
No, they don't. Once a region is renamed, landmarks made prior to renaming will cease to work.
Erik Mondrian
Arduenn Schwartzman Thanks for the reply! Good to know. I guess that might complicate things a little. 🤔
Still seems worthwhile to at least remove the apostrophes (and the parentheses), since there are so few of those regions. But it's up to the Lindens how they want to handle their own naming guidelines. Even the apostrophes apparently work fine elsewhere (?), if they can just fix it so they're properly escaped for the web map.
Spidey Linden
tracked
Issue tracked. We have no estimate when it may be implemented. Please see future updates here.
Arduenn Schwartzman
The Second Life Guidelines For Naming Private Regions, https://lindenlab.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/31000134545-guidelines-for-naming-private-regions (see screenshot) states the following:
"- Must be more than 2, but less than 26 characters (spaces count);
"- Must contain three words or less;"
"- Must use only alphanumeric characters (no punctuation);"
According to these guidelines, only letters, numbers and spaces are allowed. Apparently, some individuals with the ability to create/rename region names have successfully gotten away by violating these guidelines (maybe these only count for mere, paying mortals) and managed to include hyphens and parentheses. Clearly, including an apostrophe was a bridge too far.
If you want 'quick' results, a renaming (e.g. 'Ahab's Haunt' to 'Ahabs Haunt') request through issuing a support ticket is probably the best option. Keep in mind there's a support ticket delay.
If you want to keep the hyphen, you're in the hands of The Deciders, with, for now, an unknown outcome on an unknown timeline.