[LINK] Fixing Broken *External* Links

[Ivan Trundle]

On 01/03/2009, at 9:01 AM, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Many links die, but many others merely move.

There's more than this to consider, Roger. URLs might remain, but the  
CONTENT might change.

How do you deal with this set of circumstances?

For example, you link to a URL with, say, a review of a book. Months/ 
years/eons later, the URL no longer provides a review, but offers the  
option of buying a review, or worse, changes the page to review a  
different book.

Alternatively, a conference page which appears to be persistent now  
changes to show only upcoming conferences, and not archival material  
of old conference (and with no indication that the content has moved).

I can think of many more scenarios, but the linked web is a murky  
place, and never 'fixed in place'.

(I won't go into the argument of what a web manager should or  
shouldn't do, but rather reflect on what actually happens)

iT

--
Ivan Trundle
http://itrundle.com ivan at itrundle.com
ph: +61 (0)418 244 259 fx: +61 (0)2 6286 8742 skype: callto://ivanovitchk