This isn't an idea, but since i know that the forum had previously been attacked, sometimes i get items in the url such as " s=(encryption key) " [i hid the key in case it's important] and i just wanted to confirm, that it wasn't another hack attempt, as the S=encryption serves no real purpose, i can just remove it, and press enter and i'll still go to the url i want.

so what gives? is this a security measure implemented that acts at random, or is this another hack attempt?

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Please either PM me or instant message me with further information.

thats just a sid number, i have no idea why it exists but it's a standard part of invision boards. Just ignore or remove it and as you discovered, everything still works anyway.

It's just your session id and mainly used for people that don't have cookies enabled. You can find them in all kinds of web sites and nothing to really worry about.

but i DO have cookies installed.
so what gives?

It sends the sid anyway, just in case there turns out to be a cookie problem. Don't worry about it.

there is a mod you can install that cleans up forum/thread links. I have seen it on a few invision boards.

Hrm not sure maybe something setup incorrectly in your browser. I never get the session ID numbers with Firefox or IE.

Neither do I, I only ever saw SID's on here when I lost my Windows profile and had to create a new one (Thus losing my Firefox settings, which included allowing cookies for this site). Haven't seen it since.
Your cookies aren't setup properly, or your firewall is being strange.