Matthew Brown wrote:
Some of the Amazon ones being discussed here were not
as part of a
bibliographic entry but were being used for facts quoted in an
article, e.g. release dates, etc. In that case, it IS being used as a
source, and that's a different case.
I think this is an important distinction. Often, the Amazon link is the
easiest, best, most reliable source for a certain fact in an article.
Should it be replaced ''if possible''? Sure, and no one would object to
such a replacement. To simply try and remove the references without
replacing is a problem.
The ASIN? Not helpful. ISBNs are more standard and useful, and I can't
imagine a worthwhile defense of using ASINs when we're able to use ISBNs
so well. But there are two discussions at work here, and it's important
to separate the two.
-Jeff