Question about Links to Migrated Questions

Question

When a question is migrated from ELU to ELL, you can click on the migrated question in ELU, and it takes you to the question in ELL.

For example, when you click on this ELU question:

^{(CLICK ON IMAGE)}

the browser is redirected to the question now residing on ELL.

However, when you click on this ELL question:

^{(CLICK ON IMAGE)}

it takes you to an ELL page that merely mentions that the question has been migrated.

Is this a bug? Was the question migrated wrong? I'm just curious as to why the links don't behave the same in both directions.

Answer 1

This is because you're a moderator now. Try the same thing while logged out; you'll see the difference.

When normal users click on the link for a question that is migrated, they are automatically redirected to the version of the question on the new target site. If a question is migrated from ELL -> ELU, both the ELL and ELU links will point to ELU for normal users (and vice versa). If you try this while not logged in, that's the behavior you will see.

When you view a migrated question and are a moderator on the site the question was migrated from, clicking the link on the site the question originated will let you view the original question. That's why you see the ELL version for the helpless angle question. You're a moderator, so you might need access to the original version for some reason. If you want to view it in its new home on ELU, all you have to do is click the "migrated to english.stackexchange.com" link that appears in the migration notice box.

Note that all users have the option to view the original question, it's just not by default. If a question is migrated from ELL -> ELU and a normal user clicks the ELL link, they'll be automatically redirected to the ELU question. But if they click the "migrated from ELL" link, they'll be sent back to the ELL question: with a crucial ?noredirect=1 appended to the URL. This way the redirect won't immediately kick them back to ELU.

The no redirect is simply auto-enabled for moderators on questions migrated away from their site.