Where's the link?

5 Dec 2002

Perhaps they forgot that they were writing for the Web. I was reading "PGP 8.0 released in several new editions" on Network World Fusion, and was amazed to discover that there isn’t a single link to the company or product being described.

The article is about the release of PGP 8.0 from the 4 month old PGP Corporation. But the article doesn’t have links to the products. There isn’t even a little sidebar with links to companies mentioned in the aticle.

Then I started noticing that other big tech and business magazine sites are the same way. Information Week, Business Week, and others don’t have any links in their articles either.

What’s up? If I’m reading an article about a new product, chances are I’m going to want to visit the product’s site to find out more.

Leaving external links out of magazine articles may keep the reader at your site, but who wants a frustrated reader?

Steven Garrity
December 7, 2002 5:57 PM

This has always bothered me. It seems to reveal a complete ignorance of what the web is all about (sites with “exit” pages warning you that you are leaving their site convey the same ignorance).

I can understand the logic behind it. If a story is about how an obscure website is becoming popular, then linking to the site will be more like creating news than reporting it. However, this just doesn’t hold up and the end result is a frustrated reader.

News.com has actually had stories about website launches with no link to the website. This is just stupid.

Adam Gaffin
December 9, 2002 1:13 PM

You’re absolutely right, especially for a tech-oriented site like NWFusion. We do try to link, but, alas, given current staffing, no, we’re not always perfect.


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