Why do the character names not appear in this trivia item?

This is correct and the mark-up should not have been accepted in the first place.  We have a ticket open for this now, thanks. 

What's the underlying problem with this markup? It's way more mobile-friendly.

Hi, Niall:

I waited for the last update of the FTP files (1 Jul 2016) and here are the current instances of links with the unrecommended [link=########] format:


~TRIVIA~ (35 items)

• "Downton Abbey" (2010) {Christmas Special (#6.9)}:
  tr2726889: Lady Rose ([link=nm4141252]) and Atticus Aldridge ([link=nm3195528]) return to Downton Abbey from America, for the final episode of the series.
  tr2726891: A new character is introduced in story line of Edith and Bertie. This is the mother ([link=nm0388092]) of Bertie ([link=nm2227000]).
  
  
• "Forever" (2014):
  tr2768294: 'Ioan Gruffudd' (qv) stars in a film called [link=tt2555652], however it is based on an entirely different premise.
  
  
• "Land of the Lost" (1974) {The Paku Who Came to Dinner (#1.10)}:
  tr2845476: The title of this episode is pun on the Bette Davis movie [link=tt0033874].
  
  
• "PewDiePie" (2010):
  tr2170666: His friend Stephano in his videos are based on the character of the same name in the video game [link=tt1741689].
  
  
• "Planet Earth" (2006) {Jungles (#1.8)}:
  tr2682957: [link=tt0905877] served as a major inspiration in developing the video game [link=tt2140553], which features a mutated strain of the cordyceps fungus infecting humans and almost destroying mankind.
  
  
• "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {The Big Goodbye (#1.11)}:
  tr2899146: The title of this episode is obviously a play on the title of the Robert Altman film [link=tt0070334]The Long Goodbye[/link] that starred [link=nm0001285]Elliott Gould[/link] or it's source material, the novel of the same name written by Raymond Chandler that was part of his popular series centering on the fictional detective [link=ch0011154]Philip Marlowe[/link].
  
  
• "The Brady Bunch" (1969) {Is There a Doctor in the House? (#1.13)}:
  tr2509943: The two doctors in this episode played core cast parents in other sit-coms. [link=nm0005385] played Marion Cunningham on [link=tt0070992] and [link=nm0026802] played Henry Mitchell on [link=tt0052461].
  
  
• "The Brady Bunch" (1969) {The Slumber Caper (#2.3)}:
  tr2197584: This episode guest stars [link=nm0550855]E.G. Marshall[/link], Robert Reed's acting mentor.
  
  
• "The Brady Bunch" (1969) {Never Too Young (#5.4)}:
  tr2964883: The music under Bobby's fantasy sequence about Millicent is the from Franco Zeffirelli's [link=tt0063518]Romeo and Juliet.[/link].
  
  
• "The Colbert Report" (2005):
  tr2229309: On August 25 2014, during [link=tt3860114], 'Jimmy Fallon' (qv) joked that people should go to IMDb and add themselves as "creative consultant" to _"The Colbert Report" (2005)_ (qv), that he would support their credit. IMDb subsequently received several thousand credit submissions for "consultants" to the show, including "torture consultant" and "wardrobe malfunction consultant".
  
  
• "The Jack Benny Program" (1950) {Jack on Trial for Murder (#12.3)}:
  tr2753318: Not only did [link=nm0928207]'Frank Wilcox'[/link] play the judge in the dream sequence, he also played a "real" judge in eight episodes of [link=tt0050051]Perry Mason[/link].
  
  
• "The Munsters" (1964) {Dance with Me, Herman (#1.22)}:
  tr2862072: The title of this episode is a pun of the 1956 Abbott & Costello movie, [link=tt0049120].
  
  
• "The Persuaders!" (1971) {That's Me Over There (#1.12)}:
  tr2926061: Juliet Harmer (Prue) and Laurence Naismith (Judge Fulton) were cast members of the contemporary movie [link=tt0067645].
  
  
• "The Ray Bradbury Theater" (1985) {Banshee (#1.6)}:
  tr2263478: The egotistical film director John Hampton is a thinly-veiled portrait of 'John Huston (I)' (qv), and the story dramatises the relationship between Huston and 'Ray Bradbury' (qv) while the latter was collaborating with Huston on the film [link=tt0049513] in Ireland in 1954.
  
  
• "The Simpsons" (1989) {Super Franchise Me (#26.3)}:
    tr2835628: Episode title is a pun on the documentary [link=tt0390521], which also deals with a fast food chain.
  
  
• "Unhappily Ever After" (1995) {Let's Get Ready to Rum Ball (#4.17)}:
  tr2915860: References the contemporary TV show [link=tt0103491].
  
  
• After the Dark (2013):
  tr2384405: The names of several of the main characters are never revealed in the movie until the cast list in the closing credits. This applies to Georgina ([link=nm0942247]), Yoshiko ([link=nm4545573]), Utami ([link=nm3073947]) and Kavi ([link=nm2974421]), even though most of them had prominent roles in the movie.
  
  
• And He Said Goodbye (2014):
  tr2233491: And He Said Goodbye is a non-direct sequel to [link=nm2496636]Rupert-Anthony Ortiz's [/link] award winning film [link=tt2752066] Lessons In Life #3[/link]. And He Said Goodbye features the original character Jordan as an adult, this time played by Brett Alan Bentman.
  
  
• Antichrist (2009):
  tr2483004: Charlotte Gainsbourg wasn't the first choice for the leading role. She has since played a leading role in each part of von Trier's [link=tt0870984]/[link=tt1527186]/[link=tt1937390] trilogy.
  
  
• Churchill's Secret (2016) (TV):
  tr2963370: As soon as she enters the bedroom intended for Winston Churchill, Millie, the nurse, states there is insufficient space and that she will require access to both sides of the bed. The same thing is said by the nurse in [link=tt1060972] ('Mary MacLeod (I)' (qv)), where the invalid is Lord Marchmain. Both dramas were directed by 'Charles Sturridge' (qv). By a coincidence 'Michael Gambon' (qv) who plays Churchill also played the character Lord Marchmain, but in the 2008 film version.
  
  
• Days of Heaven (1978):
  tr2716099: After finishing "Days of Heaven", Terrence Malick began to develop a project for Paramount entitled "Q". Riddled with production troubles, Malick would abandon this project after a brief span of second unit location shooting. He would not make another film until _The Thin Red Line (1998)_ (qv), twenty years later. Ideas that began with the abandoned "Q" movie would later be re-worked into _The Tree of Life (2011)_ (qv) and [link=tt1945228]Voyage of Time[/link].
  
  
• East Is East (1999):
  tr2469728: The title derives from [link=nm0456017]'s poem "The Ballad of East and West", with its refrain "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet".
  tr2469729: The song that Meenah dances to is "Inhi Logon Ne" from [link=tt0067546].
  
  
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011):
  tr1514515: As with the first half of the film, 'Warwick Davis (I)' (qv)'s company, Willow Personnel Management (named after [link=tt0096446] in which Davis took the title role), was called upon to provide little people to portray the goblins at Gringotts.
  
  
• Let's Be Evil (2016):
  tr2753078: Similar movie poster of [link=tt1707386], and both girl on the posters is the same, 'Isabelle Allen (I)' (qv).
  
  
• Når solen skinner (2016):
  tr2610089: Director cameo: [link=nm7569851] Frederik Barington [/link] He is the young man playing a guitar and drinking beer in the park.
  tr2623947: The director [link=nm7569851] Frederik Barington [/link] was 19-years old when he wrote the script for the movie.
  
  
• Nostalgia.exe (2014):
  tr2155001: The flying footage seen in the dream sequence of this movie was shot in Argentina by [link=nm6387619]. The rest of the film was shot in Ireland.
  
  
• Rusk (2016):
  tr2232003: The film (originally titled The Antagonist), isn't based off of the [link=nm2505264] book "The Antagonist", or a remake of the Universal TV mini-series [link=tt0081900], staring [link=nm0000564] (Titled "The Antagonists" when aired in the UK), but rather a compilation of several short film scripts; including: "Prestidigation", "Lee's Summit"& "Full Mooon", all written by the films screenwriter & director.
  
  
• Song of the Sea (2014):
  tr2551590: The pub that Conor visits is called Ó Mórdha. This is the Irish version of the surname of director [link=nm1119079].
  
  
• Starship: Apocalypse (2014):
  tr2637745: Sequel to [link=tt2547942].
  
  
• The Godfather (1972):
  tr1832830: This is the fourth of five films as of 2014 in which three actors were competing for the same Oscar for the same film, which were 'Al Pacino (I)' (qv), 'James Caan (I)' (qv), and 'Robert Duvall' (qv). The other films were: _Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)_ (qv) in which 'Clark Gable (I)' (qv), 'Charles Laughton' (qv), and 'Franchot Tone (I)' (qv) competed for best actor, _On the Waterfront (1954)_ (qv) in which 'Lee J. Cobb' (qv), 'Karl Malden' (qv) and 'Rod Steiger' (qv) competed for best supporting actor, _Tom Jones (1963)_ (qv) in which nm0162284, [link=nm0262725, and 'Joyce Redman' (qv) competed for best supporting actress, and _The Godfather: Part II (1974)_ (qv) in which 'Robert De Niro' (qv), 'Michael V. Gazzo' (qv), and 'Lee Strasberg' (qv) competed for best supporting actor (which De Niro won).
  
  
• The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002):
  tr2428806: The title comes from a line attributed to studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, who was defending Evans after some of the actors involved in the film [link=tt0051028] The Sun Also Rises[/link] had recommended he be removed from the cast.
  
  
• Up (2009):
  tr0751486: Russell's Wilderness Explorer sash has several in-jokes and tributes. The most obvious is a _Luxo Jr. (1986)_ (qv) ball, which can also be seen on the floor of the room of a girl watching Carl's house float by. One badge has a hamburger with a candle in it. This is a nod to Merritt Bakery in Oakland - which creates cakes in that shape - a favorite hangout of director 'Pete Docter' (qv) and producer 'Jonas Rivera' (qv). Another badge is a tribute to 2-D animation, showing a perforated paper that is used by 2D animators to line up their drawings correctly. He also has badges for First Aid and Second Aid, which may be a reference to a short on the Up website where Russell struggles to apply bandages to Carl. Yet another badge depicts a multicolored pinwheel - the "hang" icon of Apple's Mac OS X operating system Windows uses an hourglass icon). Several of the badges are shown in the credits. An additional tribute to Apple and 'Steve Jobs' (qv) (former CEO of Pixar) shows Russell trying to teach Carl how to use a computer. The font used for the numbers on Carl's alarm clock is the "Chicago" font, one of the first fonts designed for the Macintosh. [link=nm0423418, also spearheaded the original Macintosh project at Apple.
  

~GOOFS~ (4 items)

• "Misfits" (2009) {(#1.5)}:
  gf2795341: [link=tt1553997]Previously[/link], Kelly Bailey is bald. Here, few days later, she already has her long hair as before. [Is Curtis Donovan alter [link=tt1553998]the plot[/link] sufficiently to make this change believable?]
  
  
• "Psychobitches" (2013) {(#2.3)}:
  gf2523983: In the spoof of [link=tt0054215], when the blood drains down the shower it is apparently due to Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly eating Strawberry Mivvi ice lolly treats. As is well known, the blood in the Psycho shower scene was made from chocolate sauce, so they should have been eating choc ices.
  
  
• RED (2010):
  gf1614851: When the team traps the Vice-President's group in the parking garage, Victoria ([link=nm0000545]) is firing a 50 caliber machine gun at the group to keep them pinned down. An ammunition can is visible hanging off the weapon's left side. The armor-piercing ammunition readily pierces the vehicles. The 50 caliber weapon is a belt-fed machine gun. Its large ammunition (5.45" in length) is usually fed from an ammunition can weighing 35 pounds and holding 100 rounds. The weapon at the sustained high rate of fire shown would be firing 450-550 rounds per minute, requiring it to be reloaded with a new can about every 13 seconds. Before and after the VP's security team flanks the weapon and discover it is unmanned, it has been firing for at least 30 seconds without being reloaded. The armor-piercing ammunition would not only have easily penetrated the vehicles but the people hiding behind them.
  
  
• The T.A.M.I. Show (1964):
  gf1141143: [link=nm0933136]Carl Wilson[/link] of the Beach Boys was omitted from the cast listing.

Thank you, these instances have now been corrected. It appears my colleague only cleaned up the character consts with this format

Perfect! Thank you, Niall.

Hi, Niall:

Motivated by a very recent thread, I've checked again the FTP files (19 Aug 2016) and a couple of new instances with the unrecommended format have slipped into the database:

~TRIVIA~ (2 items)

• A Test Movie (2014):
  tr2980063: Test [link=nm7452702] consumer link.
  (I guess is aware and responsible of all the weird info about this title... including the complete filmography and name profiles of Dom Fantana, Mustafa Safdari, Harold Ramsden, Wooly Ramsden, etc. )
  
  
• Deadpool (2016):
  tr2792088: SPOILER: In the after credits scene, Deadpool refers to [link=ch0020752].

~GOOFS~ (0 items)

Hi ljdoncel,

A you guessed A Test Movie (2014) is a test movie that staff use to test the behavior of certain things on the site. I actually submitted that piece of trivia while investigating this issue.

The one on Deadpool (2016) seems to have been changed in the last couple of weeks and was incorrectly accepted by our editors. I have changed it back now.

Busboy: If I understand Col's comment correctly, no links in the [link=########] format should be included in any trivia item, whether submitted via the mobile site, the desktop site, or anything else, because that format isn't intended to work for the trivia section. 

If you have submitted any trivia items that included character links in that format, I would recommend re-submitting them with the character names in plain text, not trying to link the character names. If you include titles or names of real people in the trivia item, you can link them using the "qv" format (see https://contribute.imdb.com/updates/guide/tgq_qv) instead, as Nobo mentioned above, but not the [link=########] format.

Yes that is correct, sorry if I was not clear.
When cleaning up the existing entries on the site we replaced the linked character name with plain text where we could but in some instances the unsupported link format caused an error and we were unable to recover the original item so we unfortunately had to remove them.