The Link feature in Nautilus currently only works for local files; it can't handle full URIs like sftp://mywebsite. However, it is possible for users to expect more, using the Make Link option to create a symlink to a remote file.

Currently, this breaks; Nautilus throws an unhappy error message and that's the end of it. However, it IS possible to construct something similar using a desktop entry with Type=Link. These can point to any URI the user wants. For example, I have one pointing to a specific directory inside an sftp server I use, as a specific user, and if I want to copy a file to that directory I just drag and drop it as if it's a regular folder. (Err, and mount it first).

I suggest two things:

 * Support creating a .desktop file which points to any other file. Currently this can actually be done by dragging any arbitrary path to the panel, then dragging the launcher it creates back to Nautilus. (Nautilus then handles the launcher quite neatly).

 * When creating a symlink, if that operation fails, create a .desktop file instead. Note that this would need some usability people to chime in and some kind of visual feedback - maybe a different icon for .desktop file links vs. symlinks, since they behave differently in some cases.