Mastodon: Links not working unless prefixing with http(s)://

[Porrumentzio]

On Mastodon, no matter of the app used, if someone writes an internet link, it will be shown as link only if it's prefixed with encryption prefix http(s)://. This is a bit tedious, as no everyone knows how to solve this and most of all because it's easier and faster to write the link without any prefix.

Expected behaviour

When someone writes an internet link without any prefix, let's say "mastodon.eus", it should be interpreted as link and work as it (if you type on it, redirect to that address on a browser).

Actual behaviour

When someone writes an internet link without any prefix, let's say "mastodon.eus", it is not interpreted as link, but as simple text.

Steps to reproduce the problem

Write a link without any prefix and, when posted, you'll see it's now simple text.

Specifications

mastodon.eus and esperanto.masto.host instances with Mastodon v3.1.4, both on Tusky Android app and web-view.
I use Google's Android for Tusky and Manjaro Linux with Firefox for web-view.

Proposal

I suppose Mastodon's engine avoids non-secure links and that's the reason for not showing not prefixed links as them. My proposal is, if you want to preserve that security, make a function on the code that when someone writes "a link" (really it would be somelettes+dot+someotherletters), the engine will add the prefix automatically, no matter if showing it on the interface or not (what is more easy).

[Brawaru]

I'm not sure, I dislike when someone accidentally misses whitespace and it counts as a link. Not only it's bad for the readers, but also the author of the post, because links always count as 23 characters. Your suggestion to automatically insert prefix is making this even worse (“…and he like said nah https://haha.babe why ya…”).

As a general tip, Mastodon does not show prefixes in the posts, so when you type https://google.com it will show up as google.com, I'm not sure about other clients, but I believe they should follow this approach.

[Gargron]

Counter-point: I would like to be able to talk about google.com or mastodon.eus without those things turning into links because I'm not trying to make people go there but merely talking about them. @Sasha-Sorokin's point is also very valid, avoiding accidental links is important in my opinion. Unfortunately users' expectations do not align with this, I've seen plenty of new users (especially from non-technical backgrounds) post links without including the https:// part and thus failing to make it link. That must be a frustrating new experience.

[Porrumentzio]

There are collateral damages, yes :)
Although there are some reason for not touching this behaviour, as @Gargron pointed, it can be frustrating. Mine was no more than a proposal, which I think deserves to think about

[SuperSandro2000]

Many usernames nowdays include . and all of those would probably turn into links to dead domains which is not great.

[Brawaru]

@Gargron I have an idea… Bring this monster.