The first time I open /users/shared using an alias, the folder comes up with a sidebar, even though I've repeatedly set it to turn off the sidebar. Strangely, the animation appears to be opening the folder twice. If I then close the folder and re-open it, it shows up without the sidebar, just as I've configured it in previous sessions. From then on, every time I open the alias, it comes up without the sidebar.
But if I log out and back in, I get the strange first-time behavior again, with a double-animation and a sidebar. If I use the Finder's Go -> Go to Folder menu for the first access, I can get to the target folder without the double-animation and without the sidebar. But the first time I use the alias, it shows the double-animation and the sidebar, so it really appears to be related to the alias. (I've tried re-creating the alias and even tinkering with it's extended attributes.)
I've done four fresh installs of Leopard (exploring security settings), and I've seen this behavior every time, so I'm pretty sure it's an as-delivered bug. I'm running on a PowerPC iMac; this may or may not happen on the Intel Macs.
To avoid this GUI display problem, I've found that I can make Unix symbolic links instead of aliases. For example, to create what appears to be an alias to /Users/Shared on the Desktop, you can type the following command in Terminal:
$ ln -s /Users/Shared ~/Desktop/Shared
This seems to reliably create a link that respects your view settings, at the expense of a little less use of the GUI. It's hard to believe Apple's own alias technology is messed up, and good old Unix links work better. It would seem they've forgotten the adage "'tis a gift to be simple."
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080807123311764