[Wikipedia-l] Why Wikipedia needs linkbacks

[Larry Sanger]

On Tue, 30 Oct 2001, Magnus Manske wrote:

> IMHO, that linkback table is a little overkill for people who only
> want to use a single article (or just a part of it). Thinking about
> it, how about a little button to append at the end of the text (like
> the Nupedia "N") that links back to wikipedia.com or to the article
> itself? Linking to wikipedia.com might be better in the long run,
> because we can give a one-line-source for the button that needs no
> change; and, people who follow the link will see what we have to offer
> *in addition to* that specific article (which they can find using
> search pretty easy). Also, a small button wouldn't ruin layouts, is
> smaller than even a text link, but can still be quite visible (how
> about a white W on black background?)

The main problem I can see with a button is that many people wouldn't know
what it would mean, if that's *all* that were included--that is, they
wouldn't know that it's a link back to Wikipedia, which defeats the
purpose of the linkback.