To dodge sending a Quora.com referring URL when following Quora links, simply:
- Right-click the link you want to follow
- “Copy link location” (FireFox) or “Copy Link URL” (Chrome)
- Right-click the address bar
- “Paste & Go” (FireFox) or “Paste and go to …” (Chrome)
That’s it, and now you’ve learned two context menu shortcuts in your web browser as well.
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Why does it work?
Well you may have figured that out by reading another 2013 blog post (appears currently as a high ranked search result) that is technically correct saying that Quora.com tracks referring URLs. If you were referred to the current Quora page from another Quora page, it will present you with a sign-in/create account overlay. That 2013 blog post provides a woefully unnecessary solution of using a plug-in to get around the problem.
If you directly enter the URL into the address bar, no referral URL is provided in the header sent to Quora by the browser. This principle applies to anything that tracks by referring URL. If you are super-paranoid and don’t want your browsing habits to be tracked, especially by search engines, you may want to start copying URLs from your search results and pasting them directly into the browser address bar.
