mms://...wmv
How can i link to a Microsoft Media Services-Windows Media Video file? eg -- 172.178.207.199 19:51, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
Articles about websites: citing primary sources versus only one link to site
Many people advocate that there should only be one or two links to a website in an article about that site. But, if we really want to be citing our sources, is that a good idea? Why should we limit the number of links when we have the oportunity to cite sources?
Does anyone seriously contend that the foundational directive to cite sources doesn't override the external links style guides in such cases? -- James S. 09:07, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
Petitiononline.com
I went through and deleted approximately 200 links to petitiononline.com several months ago. There are once again several hundred articles -- different articles -- linking to this site. I believe these are being added manually, but that doesn't change the fact that these petitions are inherently unencyclopedic. Anyone can create a petition at this site, there is no authentication of the creator or the signers, there is no end time, and there is no mechanism in place for the petition to actually get sent to anyone. Furthermore, nobody pays the least bit of attention to them. I had blacklisted the site at one point on meta but the blacklisting was removed on the grounds that there are a handful of articles on topics where online petitions became unusually notable for some reason.
In any case, I'd encourage people to remove these on sight, and would like to suggest that we add online petitions to the category of things we don't link to, for clarity. The Uninvited Co., Inc. 23:02, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
Amazon.com
Hi. There are currently 5,760 links to amazon.com . Is this acceptable? My second question is - can someone explain how to identify an affiliate link from a normal amazon link? -- Jim182 14:33, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
Is Wikipedia:External links#Links to normally avoid the applicable guide to avoiding/excluding links to specific bookstores, or is there another one? Шизомби 01:10, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
I took an Amazon.com link out again offering the above links in the edit summary, and it was replaced again. Can somebody set this guy straight? The Ultimate Guide to Adult Videos: How to Watch Adult Videos and Make Your Sex Life Sizzle Шизомби 17:32, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
Links to Paid Sites
Hello, a question of links to a site which requires payment for viewing of its contents has recently arisen in regards to the Lincoln LS article. A user posted a link to the Lincoln LS Owners Club (LSOC) web-site. This web-site has caused some controversy since most parts of the site are for "members-only" and thereby require payment. Is there any policy stating wheteher or not it is acceptable to have a link to such a site, which requires a certain type of membership for the viewing of most of its contents? FYI: Here is the link to the LSOC web-site. Thank you. Regards, Signature brendel 05:28, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
The External.png image in the top paragraph
I was looking at this page today and the External.png image at the top looks ( in my opinion ) a bit pixaled and ugly. Do you think it would be worth getting a copy of it in SVG or a similar format ? I had a go at creating it in Inkscape but it turned out a bit crooked ( as a PNG ). --2mcm Gespräch 02:36, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
findagrave.com
Tim Long (contributions) has been adding ELs to findagrave.com entries for a number of famous dead people. I was initially turned off by the site due to annoying banner ads and popup windows that firefox couldn't block. That said, I was curious if these links are good enough to include here. I noticed his addition to the Jesus page was reverted (they are aiming for FA status, and have a pretty strict EL policy). I would propose that all of these additions be reverted, but I wanted to come here and see if this was covered by policy, and if others agreed or disagreed with me. --Andrew c 01:51, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
Links to sites in a foreign language
I propose that links to sites in a foreign language be discouraged (but allowed in certain situations). First, sites in other languages are of little use to the vast majority of readers, either because they only understand English or because they can understand English in addition to other languages, making the links in other languages redundant. Second, speakers of other languages can use the Wikipedia in their own language. The other Wikipedias have fewer articles, but they tend to have the articles that are of most interest to speakers of that language. Third, if they are able to understand the English Wikipedia article, they should be able to understand the English sites that are linked to. Fourth, an article on a complex or controversial topic that has enough links to be anywhere near comprehensive in a couple of languages other than English would be dominated by its external link section.
The only reasons that I can think of to link sites in other languages is if the link is to the official/definitive site of the article's subject or if it is not necessary to understand the language to use the site and it provides something the English sites don't. -- Kjkolb 16:33, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
External links to non-commercial tutorials and hands-on articles
A number of articles on technical topics have had external links to hands-on articles and tutorials wiped. At the same time there seems to be a desire not to have long lists of details (such as sample code) here. This is a problems to someone looking for more information, even when it comes to commercial systems. If, say, you want the low down on systems from Microsoft you have to wave through tons of buzzword filled marketing speak before you find anything remotely technical. Microsoft is also hampered by a search engine which is less useful then Google using site:microsoft.com so I come to Wikipedia for the hard facts. And I do find useful links ... by going through history files looking for deletions of what someone called link spam.
I therefore propose to explicitly allow external links to tutorials, hands-on articles, HOWTOs and sample code that are non-commercial and non-overlapping (ref. also MECE principle).
Relevant links to DMOZ might also be useful but I'd first like to know what went wrong that caused Google to severe the ties with them.
--14:21, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Original research problem
The first item discouraged is:
This item muddles unrelated points. Factually inaccurate material should obviously never be used as a source. But that has nothing to do with whether a source conducted "original research".
Original research, is perfectly legitimate *outside* Wikipedia. The presenence of original research, is never a bad thing per se. Even if it is "unverified", it may be a legitimate, if its from a reputable source. I think the wording of the guidelines misuderstands the meaing of WP:NOR. WP:NOR just means *we* don't do original research, it doesn't stop us from using the original research of others, and it actually requires us to do, just that. Taken literally, this guideline would preclude us from linking to reliable pollsters, and other conductors of original research (who's work isn't necessarily verified by others). So, I wish to keep the rest of the wording, but drop "original research". --Rob 09:08, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
I was getting ready to boldly delete that part of the sentence, but then I re-read Wikipedia:Reliable sources and Wikipedia:No original research, and it seems that yes, an exterior website can be considered as original research too, if it's about something that hasn't been published in "reputable sources". Maybe
could become
... hmm. Sounds a bit lame. Needs moe discussion, and probably coordination with those other policy pages. Flammifer 16:09, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
- Any site that contains unpublished information on its web page, unless it is the official site of the article's subject or it is a notable proponent of a point of view in an article with multiple points of view. (See WP:RS for further information on this guideline.) Terryeo 23:39, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
YouTube linking
I have noticed that some people are inserting links to YouTube videos in articles about singers or bands. I am torn at this moment: promotional videos are promotional, but the links are just link and aren't specified as the guidelines state. So far, I am being bold and removing them as I see linking to them a way of increasing the popularity of the owner's videos. What is the community thought about this? I am doing something similar www.videouncovered.com, which 82.161.26.23 (talk · contribs) has been inserting into every article (around 90% of his edits are adding links to the site). Thanks. -- ReyBrujo 18:34, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
Attack pages
I'm a little surprised that there isn't an offic
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