Permalinks

So I've noticed that doing pretty much anything in the edit menus seems to change my permalinks. Is there an easy/quick way to obtain a list of permalinks for my models?

IMO this is simply a bug. Permalink should not change if a model's for-sale status, or indeed anything else about it, is changed.

I'm sorry to be grumpy, but I don't see why anyone ever thought this would be a good idea. So very not.

Please fix.

Agreed, permalinks should never change and optimally should not be reused after a model is deleted. I imagine this is an issue of what is used to calculate the permalinks and how the linking structure functions within the database behind shapeways.

I'm supposing that Public Model links, Private Model links are kept segregated within the database. most likely within two separate fields. the result being that if the model is public the link it generates is in a different field than a private model, presumably then the database recalculates all collective models from the public field which is blank when the model is set to private. It is easier to code this way i'd guess than to have the site code itself determine if a model is visible at all. I could be wrong on how it works but it results in the same thing. the site's permalinks aren't permanent.

I noticed that 9 times out of 10 if i set a private model to for sale all it changes is the last character of the permalink, for about 15 models last night it just counted up 6 characters from its previous numbers. Not sure why but it did. I'm sure there is some logic behind it but damned if i can figure it out. And at this point I have about 1200 models so... not doing it by hand. LOL.

The permalink needs to include the "key" to the model if it is not public.
That's one of the reasons that it must change when you flip it from private to public
Examples:
https://www.shapeways.com/model/2200000/mymodel.html?li=aeTa bs&key=26b92e59eed170b6b0dfb63a4574c08f (private)
https://www.shapeways.com/model/2200000/mymodel.html?li=aeTa bs (public)

I'm not 100% sure, but it if you flip a model back to private from public, you should may be able to use the first permalink again.
But... I am also fairly sure that if you upload the model anew, then you'll get a new key generated above, causing a new permalink.

As far as I could figure it calculated using four pieces, 1 a unique ID that identifies the specific model on shapeway's server (varies by upload and iteration), 2 some kind of ID for shop owner likely generated based on the long url of the shop and seems to change depending on what section of the shop the model is assigned to. 3 a public / private flag that flags the item as visible to shapeway's search/store listings or not. and 4 a for sale / not for sale flag that flags sales information for population in your store and signals to add the markup based on non-creator purchases. If I change any of these four items it seems to give me a different permalink. however when I change them back it doesn't always give me the old permalink so its possible that your browser session ID or a server time is factored in as well.

With respect Stony, I'm not sure what you mean by "must". This is simply wrong behavior in a "permalink". If it's going to change every time I touch a detail, it should be called something else. I suggest "ephemeralink", or -- let's cut to the chase -- "deadlink".

The whole point of it is to have a short URL that I can give people in trust that it will work. The way it is now fails to do that.
Am I misunderstanding the purpose of this feature? should I use tinyurl instead?

Just saw, that this is indeed a bug. I'll update when I'm updated.

Thanks, Youknowwho4eva, glad to hear its on the radar now. bug or miss-begotten feature, at least it will be looked at.

Dittoes, thanks. It's worth fixing -- I would use this feature if it worked.

Indeed, its most helpful when it works.
Another thing that I asked support about related to permalinks is a way to get a complete list of all my permalinks. Like having it in a field of the markup CSV. or having a "Print links" report. so that I can populate an external site or archive for messaging purposes. Obviously i'd want the links to work first and foremost. LOL.

How about randomizing the link target as well ? I'm sure this would increase sales of underrated and long-overlooked models ;-)

As a work around I asked if there was a way to get a list of permalinks from customer service. You know so I could pull a complete list of links every so often to catch changes. They informed me that this is not possible at this time specifically because they change when the description information changes. So. I'd guess that's officially a bug when it messes up their own record keeping.

It's funny you know. blogs have been doing permalinks for a decade and change without trouble LOL.
Anyway I love shapeways and the tools they provide, I'm glad this issue is hopefully on their radar now.