It seems to be a shortcut to open the comment url. Specifically opens the full article but at the height of the comment from which the link was generated, by pressing the icon.
There is a bug and the links are not being generated correctly, because they lack the part of the url that refers to the publication in which the comment has been made.
I will now make a comment to have a practical example.
I don’t think this is a bug. The point of this button is not to generate a link to be opened in a browser, but rather one to be copy-pasted in the searchbar of any fediverse instance.
I can use it for example if I see your comment by browsing directly on lemmy but want to answer it with this Friendica account.
In fact, the link to generate the page you are talking about can be obtained by clicking the “chain link” icon next to it
I never knew will have to give this a thrash
Yes, thanks. Anyway I’ve seen that and I mentioned it.
Oh, that’s not exactly explained by the UI. It’s a feature not common to other websites, even mastodon.
I agree, don’t remember how I discovered that, but it sure comes in handy when participating from Friendica !
But it’s hard to imagine that it works that way.
Would it, then, be used to republish a comment when the content is accessed from other Fediverse platforms?
Although the link gives an error in the browser, it can actually be used to look for the comment. I used it here from Tusky for Android.
I had to copy the link. I can’t imagine what’s the context where the icon is used directly without leading to an error, because, anyway, browsing the Lemmy instance, when the Fediverse icon is clicked, a link is opened in a new tab with a 404 error. It’s an undesirable behavior.
Would it, then, be used to republish a comment when the content is accessed from other Fediverse platforms?
It could be used to reply, up or downvote, reshare, … any interaction allowed by that other platform.
It’s an undesirable behavior
Yes, I guess the desirable behaviour would be that clicking would copy the link to clipboard instesd of opening it.
Another idea, so that one does not have to copy paste, may be to open a “remote interaction” pop up that asks you the name of thefedi instance where you want to open the comment in question, similarly to what happens on Peertube
If I try to open this comment in a new browser tab by pressing the Fediverse icon above, it redirects to https://lemmy.ml/comment/166757 that doesn’t exist.
Edit: After reading some answers I have understood that the link does exist, but not to be opened directly from a browser, but to access the answer from other Fediverse platforms. What doesn’t make sense is that if you press It from the Lemmy web interface it leads to a 404 error.
The correct address is https://lemmy.ml/post/241826/comment/166757 the same that is generated and copied to clipboard by pressing the icon in the form of links near the Fediverse icon.
