Long-term Linking On The Web Is Falling Victim To Link Rot
https://www.cjr.orgA new study of 553,693 articles from The New York Times shows 25% of deep links on NYT articles from 1996-2019 are inaccessible. The study looks at
- how it differs from each section on the site like sports and government affairs pieces.
- the frequency of Content Drift and more
Linkrot and content drift at this scale across the New York Times is not a sign of neglect, but rather a reflection of the state of modern online citation. The rapid sharing of information through links enhances the field of journalism. That it is being compromised by the fundamental volatility of the Web points to the need for new practices, workflows, and technologies.
