Update: The original bug report has been marked status-review by a staff member.
I'd like to (Onceonce again) raisingraise the discrepancy in link validationdiscrepancy in link validation between regular links and image links, introduced around the time of the Imgur migration.
Post validation no longer allows protocol-relative URLs onlyProtocol-relative URLs to embedded images are incorrectly being blocked. for images.
If you try to post an image with a protocol relative URL, you get the following validation error preventing you from submitting:
This is a recent development, likely changed as a result of the Imgur migration. For non-image URLs, protocol relative links are still supported:
Regular links ✅ (passes validation)
[This is a text link][some-link]
[some-link]: //stackexchange.com
Image links ❌ (fails validation)
![This is an image][some-img]
[some-img]: //i.sstatic.net/f7Uili6t.png
I raise it here because it's probably a minor fix and something that could fit within a sprint.
How to resolve (definition of done)
I'd prefer protocol-relative be allowed again for images, but ultimately it's the discrepancy that needs to be resolved - either we support it for all link types, or we don't support it at all.
In other words, the validation that checks links should be the same for both image and regular links.