From patch 1.10 until 2.2.2, attempting to use this function to see an item that had not yet been seen on the realm in question would result in a disconnect. From 2.2.2 until about 3 weeks later (Oct. 24ish), you could use this function and would not be disconnected if you queried one of these "bad" items. Now it seems that the disconnect is back, and it's pretty random. Sometimes I can query for an item and won't get disconnected, other times the same item will boot me. So Blizz, did you intend to reactivate the disconnect feature, or is this a bug? I'm sure a lot of us that use mods like AtlasLoot to keep abreast of the latest item drops on our realms would be interested in knowing whether the disconnect is back to stay or is just a temporary issue. Thanks.

This function is only safe to call with a hyperlink you've seen linked in chat this session. It has always worked this way.

That said, you should no longer be disconnected by querying bad item links. You may be flood disconnected though, if you're cycling through hundreds of items at a time.

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Q u o t e:
So it's not valid to use SetHyperlink on items seen through other means, such as mousing over items in the player's inventory? I do that all the time -- I grab the item link from the tooltip of the item the user is hovering over, I remove enchants and gems from the link, and then I use SetHyperlink on a hidden tooltip using that mangled item link to get information about the "base" version of that item without any enchantments. Is this not intended to work? I thought that as long as the user had ever seen the base item before anywhere, not just in chat, it would be okay.

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No, that's fine. As long as it's a link to an item that actually exists while you're logged on. :)

You're welcome. :)