Template:Link rot

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This template will add tagged articles to a cleanup category according to the month and year given.

What is a bare URL?

A bare URL is a link to a website with no identifying information except the link itself. It is not just a citation style that leaves the URL visible to the reader. Fully visible URLs are required by some citation styles, such as the MLA style. However, these visible URLs should be accompanied by useful descriptions of the page being linked, such as information about the author, title, and/or publication.

Bare URLs—add this tag

• http://www.example.org/page.html
• [1]

Good citations—do not add this tag

• Fuster V, Walsh RA, Harrington RA, eds. Hurst's The Heart. 13th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2011. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=7812984.
• Fuster V, Walsh RA, Harrington RA, eds. Hurst's The Heart. 13th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2011.[2]

How to use

Paste this at the top of the references section of an article with bare-URL references:

{{Cleanup-link rot|date=November 2024}}

Save the page. Then click the fix-it link ("...Reflinks tool...") in the banner. Wait for the bot to finish filling in all the citation templates for each bare URL. This can take ten minutes for a page with a hundred bare URLs. It is faster for fewer links. Scroll to the bottom of the results page to see how much has been completed. When done, click the 'show preview' button at the bottom of the page. If things look OK, then click the 'save page' button. If things don't look OK, then fix what needs to be fixed in the preview edit window. Then click the 'save page' button.

• http://toolserver.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/webreflinks.py - This webform does exactly the same thing as the fix-it link in the banner. Paste in the URL or page name of the Wikipedia article that you want the bare URLs fixed in. This web form is better than the one linked below because the one linked below adds "bot-generated" notes, and it does not fill in nearly as many details.
• http://toolserver.org/~dispenser/view/Reflinks

This template will add tagged articles to Category:Articles needing references cleanup.

Redirects

• {{Cleanup-link rot}}

Related pages

• {{Dead link}}