[WikiEN-l] Linkage bloat

[Risker]

On 8 November 2011 17:08, Andrew Gray <andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk> wrote:

> On 8 November 2011 15:32, Carcharoth <carcharothwp at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> > What I'm looking for is the ability to filter links to articles that
> > are due to that template being transcluded on other pages, and links
> > that actually come from the non-transcluded areas of articles.
> > Preferably with the links from transclusions annotated with the name
> > of the transcluded item generating the link.
>
> I was going to suggest filing a bug, but it seems the problem's been
> in bugzilla for six years:
>
> https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3241
>
> Judging by the comments there, it looks like it's technically quite
> difficult to do.
>
> Back to the drawing board... fixing whatlinkshere apparently won't
> work, and limiting the templates (by removing links or obfuscating
> them with redirects) will cause more problems than this one solves, so
> what's the third option? Can something be scripted on the toolserver
> as a stand-in?
>
>

Actually, the answer to the question is to deprecate such ridiculous
templates and apply the appropriate categories.  These enormous templates
make articles difficult to open on slow or mobile connections, which
encompasses a significant number of our users.  This is a usability issue,
and an inappropriate use of templates.

Risker/Anne