There is a filter in place to prevent new users from posting more then one link on the body of a question. I believe the intent of this is to prevent spammers from using the system, but does it really help us here?

I seem to see lots of questions from new users where they have obfuscated configuration to try to avoid the filter, or they post their question somewhere else and link to it. I am sure it is really frustrating for users since having URLs in configuration files and log files is quite common.

It seems like we are putting up a road-block that doesn't block spammers, since at least one URL is allowed, and blocks a lot of new users from providing a useful first question with the relevant logs and configurations.

I think a good compromise would be to have the system be modified so that URLs in code blocks are ignored, instead of counted against a person. I think this shouldn't be a problem since URLs in code blocks are not automatically converted into hyper-links.

I made some invalid initial assumptions in my original question, but I still think there is a bit of a problem here that needs to be solved.

This is the current error message a user sees when submitting a question with more then two links.

• we're sorry, but as a spam prevention mechanism, new users can only post a maximum of two hyperlinks. Earn more than 10 reputation to post more hyperlinks.

I wonder if it would be helpful to modify this message somehow to indicate that links in a code block will be exempt.