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Can we have some tools to handle link rot?

I've clicked on a number of links that went to deleted questions. I've no idea how to tackle that problem because it's within questions, comments and answers, but it would be a great idea to disable these links somehow.

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marked as duplicate by balpha Jul 27 '11 at 22:09


Where did you find those links? –  kiamlaluno Jul 26 '11 at 22:48
Anywhere, especially MSO –  GUI Junkie Jul 27 '11 at 8:26
Yes, looks like a dupe. Nice term: link rot. Never heard it. –  GUI Junkie Jul 27 '11 at 22:20

3 Answers 3

If the link isn't on a Stack Exchange site, there's nothing Stack Exchange can do.

If the link is on a Stack Exchange site, what would you do? If you see a broken link in a Stack Exchange post, you can always edit it. This can't be done manually, you need to think about each case. Has the link target moved (e.g. migrated question)? Is there another good resource to link to? Does the post still make sense without the link?

Many deleted posts on Stack Exchange are still visible on StackPrinter. For instance, if you feel frustrated at not knowing how many favorite programmer cartoons are by Randall Munroe, you can see the thread on StackPrinter.

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Great, I'll look into StackPrinter. I was talking about deleted questions on SE. –  GUI Junkie Jul 27 '11 at 22:12

They are still not visible to you, as you do not have more than 10 000 reputation.

Don't worry about that.

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Still, links into the nothing are annoying. –  Paŭlo Ebermann Jul 26 '11 at 23:07
Yep, that's true. But could you imagine that overload on each page request? –  genesis Jul 26 '11 at 23:25
No, the idea would be to somehow mark these links as invalid when the page was deleted (or by some cronjob run regularly). Or have them on the review page for manual inspection and deletion/update by users. –  Paŭlo Ebermann Jul 26 '11 at 23:37
I suppose the point about not being visible should apply to the links too. –  prusswan Jul 26 '11 at 23:40
A lot of them are there intentionally, for the benefit of 10k users. Especially on Meta. Granted it's frustrating for those under 10k, but people won't appreciate you removing them. –  Cody Gray Jul 26 '11 at 23:40
@PaloEbermann: user can flag that answer/question –  genesis Jul 26 '11 at 23:41

Deleted questions are still visible to 10k users, and moderators. Deleted questions are not deleted from the database, but they are only visible to users with the right privilege.

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Sure, so leave the link active for +10K users. –  GUI Junkie Jul 27 '11 at 8:27

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