Finding a VHID and linking to an entry

Every entry on Verified Handles has a VHID: an 11-digit number that belongs to that entry alone. Here’s how to find it, and how to link to an entry so the link keeps working.

Find an entry’s VHID

  • On the entry’s page. Open the entry and choose Menu. Its VHID is near the top, under “Permanent link”, with a button to copy the link.
  • In the address. An entry without a short name lives at its VHID, so its address already ends in it: verifiedhandles.org/53500361835.
  • In the entry’s data. Add .json to an entry’s address, as in verifiedhandles.org/james.json, and the VHID is the first field, vhid.
  • On the application form. Naming an associated entry? Type its name in the form’s search and choose it: the form fills in the VHID for you.

What a VHID is explains how an entry gets one, and why it never costs anything.

Link to an entry for the long term

For a link that should keep working for years — in an article, a profile, a reference or your own records — link to the VHID:

https://verifiedhandles.org/<VHID>

  • It always leads to the entry. If the entry has a short name, the link forwards to it, so readers still see the friendly address.
  • A short name, like verifiedhandles.org/james, is easier to read and fine for everyday sharing, but it can change. When it does, links to the old name stop working; links to the VHID don’t.
  • If two entries about the same subject are merged, links to either VHID lead to the entry that is kept.

Use the plain address. Leave out anything after a ?, and link to verifiedhandles.org over https. Links to our old verifiedhandles.com addresses still forward, but the .org address is the one that lasts.