Don't tell me if a cross-reference goes nowhere

Cross-references (hyperlinks which take you from a word in one FOLDOC definition to the FOLDOC definition of that word) work just like the searches you type in. This means they can sometimes fail because the linked word is not found.

"Why link it then?", you may ask. To see how many people try to follow it. Bad cross-references (just like other searches) get added to the list of frequently requested missing terms each time someone tries to follow one. This allows me to see either that the link was really bad (e.g. mistyped), or that it is worth adding a new definition. "Why don't you just fix them all?", you now ask. Because there are a lot and I don't have time. This way I can spend my time on the ones most people want.

So, please don't tell me if a cross-reference goes nowhere or returns "not found" (unless it is obviously mis-spelled). I already know and will fix it eventually.

A cross-reference goes somewhere odd

A cross-reference may occasionally take you to some completely unrelated entry because the exact term was not found but a partial match was. Please do let me know if this happens.

A link to another site is bad

If the broken link was not a cross-reference within the dictionary but a link to a different web site, please do let me know so I can fix it. If you can suggest where it should point, that would be even better.

If you get an error like "host unknown" or "host unavailable" this may indicate a temporary problem so, if possible, please try again after an hour or next day before reporting it as a bad link.

Last modified: Wed Mar 5 00:14:19 GMT 2003

Denis Howe