Usually they were product related but the message after clicking on that link is

At VigLink, we empower content creators to connect enthusiastic consumers with products written about in the publisher's content. The publisher whose site you left gives VigLink the ability to identify the same product across various merchants and bring you to this destination. VigLink shopping allows you to choose where you want to shop, and ensures you're getting the best possible price.

So it seems that one anyway is more general.

I've seen that a couple times, and when I have a common denominator seems to be that I used a link for the news article that came in email rather than from the main site (like a newspaper's mail).  Those links often are lengthy and have ad coding built in (if you play with them there often is the regular link, then a question mark, then some code which tends to be ad related or tracking related, and if I'm careful I can edit it down to a shorter working link to the article.  I'm guessing viglink interacts with some of the ad links.

It's way too much playing with html for me to do it often or test it, and I've learned to not do too much posting of material that arrives via email to not inadvertently add strange links in posts.

noted, thanks ...

It seems to happen only with NYT links. Others go through fine. The latest, from a post in Meta today.

The plain link to the article:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/24/us/politics/the-health-care-blame-game.html

The link from source code, which includes the referrer:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/24/us/politics/the-health-care-blame-game.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

The redirected link to the shopping page (from right-click and copy link):
http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_149045765809315&key=397bc07bc09201be2208744802636e51&libId=j0pfykcy01000pep000DL33us2nog&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.delphiforums.com%2Fnewsandpolitics%2Fmessages%2F44622%2F1&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Finteractive%2F2017%2F03%2F24%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fthe-health-care-blame-game.html%3Fhp%26action%3Dclick%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26clickSource%3Dstory-heading%26module%3Db-lede-package-region%26region%3Dtop-news%26WT.nav%3Dtop-news&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.delphiforums.com%2Fn%2Fmb%2Flist.asp%3Fwebtag%3Dnewsandpolitics%26ctx%3D0%26cacheTag%3D59-28%26msg%3D44620.1&title=Let%20the%20fingerpointing%20begin%20%5Bnewsandpolitics%2044622.1%5D&txt=The%20Health%20Care%20Bill%20Has%20Failed.%20Let%20the%20Finger%20Pointing%20Begin.&loAsUuid=j0pfykka-849aeb95-ba7c-43c1-93e6-06a06a0d8cc1

The problem is that I can't see any way to get to the NYT article from the Viglink shopping page. I do have an ad blocker and a tracking blocker active, and I use Firefox on an iMac. I think the redirect problem is at Delphi rather than at the NYT.

What happens if you turn off your ad blocker?

The Nyt has their page set to feature the viglinks ad when you are connecting from a third party.  If you google nyt you don't get the viglink ad page but if you go there from a link from a 3rd party then you do.  I have this happen when reading a CNN article or Reuters that have a link to the original NYT article.

I guess that's probably the cause. Thank you! I'll just have to pick up the link from source code.

Cstar, no difference when I disable the ad blocker and the tracking blocker, still goes to the shopping page. I think Jeri may have the answer. But still a bit odd that right-clicking shows the redirect link.

Thanks to all for your help.

A workaround is to opt out of Viglink here:
http://www.viglink.com/opt-out/

Then be sure to keep the Viglink cookies.

After opting out, I still got a shopping page, but with a link to the NYT article so I could continue there. Still not a happy camper, but better than getting stuck on a shopping page.

IIRC, there is another newspaper site that does the same thing, but not one I normally read, so can't remember which one...I prefer this, with the link to the real article to the WashPost that requires you to sign up and subscribe! I have adblocker and still get it, too.

You're welcome.  

Glen (GEAATL) said:

I've seen that a couple times, and when I have a common denominator seems to be that I used a link for the news article that came in email rather than from the main site (like a newspaper's mail). Those links often are lengthy and have ad coding built in (if you play with them there often is the regular link, then a question mark, then some code which tends to be ad related or tracking related, and if I'm careful I can edit it down to a shorter working link to the article. I'm guessing viglink interacts with some of the ad links.

I think Glen hit on it with his post - if I go to the NYT's site and copy from the article it does not paste in the same way as the one on the Meta forum. I think digyourgig is pasting them from a newsletter link.

Funny - when I open one of the messages you linked with IE it goes straight to the NYT site. But with the same browser, the other message leads to the Viglink site where there's a large View Article button. When I use Firefox to view the same links they lead to the page you see with no way to advance to the article.

You can opt out but other viewers could run into the same problem and that's a little frustrating for the host who misses out on member interaction.

You can link him here and we cold help him find a better way to achieve this.