Chat creates an improper link when there is a “)” in the URL

Question

In chat, someone tried to post a link to wolfram alpha. Specifically

http://wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(1.25e-6%20amp)*(10%2F(60%20Hz))%2F(3.3%20V)%3D

The link showed up in chat like so:

wolframalpha.com/input/…)*(10%2F(60%20Hz))%2F(3.3%20V)%3D

I am assuming this is by design to allow links to work when someone places them inside ()'s, but it is rather annoying to have to piece together the link after parts of it get hidden by ...'s.

There has got to be a better way to handle this situation.

Answer 1

As you suspected, the problem comes from all the characters that have special meaning in the mini-Markdown formatting language used in chat. By escaping the parentheses (prefixing them with a backslash) and using the full link syntax, you can make even this work:

[wolfram alpha gives farads as an alternative unit](http://wolframalpha.com/input/?i=\(1.25e-6%20amp\)*\(10%2F\(60%20Hz\)\)%2F\(3.3%20V\)%3D)

...which renders as:

wolfram alpha gives farads as an alternative unit