User:DragonHawk/External links

Personal Opinion Ahead

NOTE WELL: This user subpage contains, at least in part, material that may be from my own point of view. I happen to believe the information below is based at least in part on objective fact, and is likely to be useful to others. However, it should *NOT* be considerd a policy or guideline, or even a popular idea. At most, it is an idea that others may agree with.

Inappropriate external links

With some frequency, I come across articles or stubs which are, in general, good, but which have "external link cancer". This cancer occurs when far too many people have edited an article to add their favorite website, tool, forum, FAQ, product, tutorial, or whatever. (This goes beyond simple link spam, although that certainly contributes.) These links are often added in good faith, but still do not belong.

Recall that Wikipedia is not a collection of links. Most of these links appear to be random stuff that people added because they thought it was interesting. While the links may be interesting, that's not what Wikipedia is for.

To help in editing and discussion, I have developed the following list of cases where I feel an entry in the "External links" section is appropriate:

A direct link to the subject matter (e.g., for products, the product web page)
Any link explicitly referenced in the article text
A direct link to information immediately useful for verification
A direct link to information which is likely to be useful for future article expansion

If none of those apply, the link is not likely not relevant for the article, and perhaps should be deleted. Please note the distinction between a link which is merely relevant to the subject matter, and one which is relevant to the article. A link should not be added just because it has some connection to the subject matter; it should have some connection to the content of the article as well.