Template:Forum link/doc

This template simplifies the linking of Bogleheads forum posts into an article, which you will typically do using the reference tags. Using this template can be preferable to making up the link yourself for the following reasons:
 * Consistent format in links to the Bogleheads.org forum
 * Should the URL pattern of the forum ever change, then the template might be able to change accordingly

Topic

 * t: The topic ID. Each topic has a unique identifier; which is the numeric value in the URL after the . Generally, you should link to the topic unless you want to specify a specific reply further down into the topic, in which case you can provide the post (p) parameter value.

Post

 * p: The post ID. Each post within a topic has a unique identifier which is obtained by clicking on the post's title; the link in the top-left corner of every post. It is the numeric value in the URL after the.

Use only the topic_id or post_id, not both. Link to the Topic when you want to emphasize the overall topics. Link to the Post when you want to focus on a particular reply within the overall topic.

Title

 * title: The link text to display. Typically this will be the discussion topic title. You may also include the author.

Date

 * date: (optional) the date of the topic or post. Please add the date, as many financial topics are date sensitive and the reader may wish to know if the post is many years old. Suggested format is (D)D Month YYYY (e.g. 7 July 2012) but any format will be output as entered.

Author

 * author: (optional). If desired, the author of the topic or post may be added.

Example
To create a link to forum topic, the topic_id is 88005. Therefore to use this template, you would code as follows:



Results in:



To create a link to forum post, the post_id is 1263932. Therefore to use this template, you would code as follows:



Results in:



Ideally, include the date of the original topic if you use the t parameter, or of the specific post if you use the p parameter. For example:



Results in:



In most cases, you'll link to a Bogleheads forum post using the reference  tags. For example:



The wiki text above results in the following, with a footnote after the sentence with the footnote reference in the bottom of the page in the References section:


 * The 3-Fund portfolio is an excellent investment strategy.

To use the author parameter:



The wiki text above results in the following, with a footnote after the sentence with the footnote reference in the bottom of the page in the References section:


 * The 3-Fund portfolio is an excellent investment strategy.