Tuesday, September 5, 2006, 6:15:46 AM, you wrote:
LA> Suppose you define a way to identify a pre-defined reference, e.g. LA> the Wikipedia Standard Reference Numbering (WSRN), you could set LA> up a server of your own where the reference database is kept and LA> just link to that from a template. It would be no different from LA> Egil Kvaleberg's map link server and the {{coor}} template.
LA> WSRN = 1 --> "The Wiki Way", ISBN 0-201-71499-X LA> WSRN = 2 --> "The Hive", article in "The Atlantic Monthly", LA> http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200609/wikipedia LA> WSRN = 3 --> ...
LA> and a template {{wsrn|3}} to make a reference.
but, when one would edit the article, they will see just {{wsrn|3}} and have absolutely no idea about which book is referenced. Especially in articles with dozens of book references, this would make the editing much more complicated than it is now with <ref> tags.