Yep! As I recall, the first use of a particular
<ref> need not be the "real"
one, anymore. It may be beneficial to start just using <ref name="foo"/>
in
the article text, and then shove the main refs to the bottom of the article,
above or around the <refereces/> tag. For the time being, I suppose that
would cause a few extra footnote links, but surely the problem is
surmountable.
If they can go at the bottom, then it should be ok. I was under the
impression the first use had to be the full one, if that's not so,
then great! A numberline at the bottom isn't too bad, although the
extra letter on each reference linking to the bottom of the page would
still be annoying... we need some kind of noinclude option for refs...