Otoh our overactive date linking has already made what-links-here on
the date pages useless. The additional damage caused by links for
source access will probably be small by comparison.
We can complete the cycle obstructing machine readability by using
some css hack to make the linked date look like unlinked text. I'd
almost be surprised if someone hasn't coded it already.
On 1/1/07, David Ashby <humble.fool(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 1/1/07, Christopher Thieme
<cdthieme(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Howdy y'all
Right now an article I'm working on getting FA-status for is at a point of
complying with ambiguous and contradictory MoS provisions. A user who
objects to an article undergoing an FA-candidacy does so on the grounds
that
dates in citations stating when internet sources
are accessed by an
article
contributor should be wikilinked.
The two completing MOS provisions are:
1.) That dates consisting of a day and month should be wikilinked to
interface with user preferences.
(per:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_%28dates_and_numbers…
)
2.) That things should only be linked if they're relevant to the context
(of
the article).
(per:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Only_make_links_that_are_relevant_to…
)
I think it's ridiculous to link source-access dates as it's just too much
(linking, that is), it adds no understanding to the article, and I don't
think it's relevant to the context of the article. While I understand the
need to deal with user preferences (which doesn't really add or subtract
information or make it easier to convey or comprehend by transforming 17
August to August 17) Do we really expect a user to sit back and say "Let's
see what happened on the day so-and-so accessed this source he's citing?"
I would appreciate it greatly if you could help resolve this issue and
give your comments on which guideline should win out on the talk pages of
the MoS articles I cited above, or here via e-mail.
While I'm at it, I extend my best wishes to all of you for a happy "Feast
of
the Circumcision of Our Lord"...the only
reason we celebrate the new year
on
January 1st, and hoping that 2007 is better than
2006.
IMHO, linking the *access dates* for sources is 100% worthless.
Adds nothing to the content, and could conceivably confuse a user.
-David
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