The line through a Broken Lnk

1. 91

   Greensleeves Hubsposted 9 years ago

   Hi; I just wanted to commend a particular 'service' provided by HubPages which I think is fairly recently introduced. I certainly had not noticed it before the past few weeks. It is the line automatically drawn through broken links.
   
   One of the problems with writing hubs is that web sites or articles have a habit of closing down. And yet we are rightly encouraged to reference fact-based hubs with active links. Unfortunately this all leads to regular broken links on many hubs, which can look unprofessional, especially if visitors keep clicking on references only to get an 'Error: 404 Not Found' message. It can make the hub look unattended and uncared for.
   
   The policy of automatically informing the hub writer of a bad link is obviously good. But so is this policy of automatically putting a line through broken links, as this avoids the frustration of visitors to the hub who click on a bad link hoping to find more information. The line makes it clear that the link is bad, and even though it's not put there by the hubber themselves, it gives the visitor the good impression that the hub is being watched over and that the hubber is at least aware of the problem with the link.
   
   I just wanted to mention this - probably little noticed, and therefore little praised - feature which deserves some acknowledgement.

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   1. 94

      MsDoraposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Just adding my commendation.  The link is a neat idea.  Thanks HubPages!

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2. 60

   LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

   That is a good idea. Have not noticed it either.

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3. 83

   Venkatachari Mposted 9 years ago

   Hi, It is a good point noticed by you and brought to others' notice. I have not come across it.
   
   But I noticed one such warning or intimation to me in my statistics page through a symbol that there is one broken link in my hub. When I clicked on my hub to know why it is showing like that, I came to know that one video which I have changed location on youtube resulted in the broken link. So, immediately I replaced the correct link to my video.
   
   This system is very helpful to the hubbers. And I thank hubpages for that information.

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4. 72

   relacheposted 9 years ago

   That new strikeout through broken links is to let readers know a link is broken.
   
   Hub authors can more easily find and manage any and all broken links from the dashboard, http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/broken-links

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      colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Cool beans. I really need to get more acquainted with my dashboard.

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   2. 91

      Greensleeves Hubsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Absolutely. It's good for hubbers to have the information warning them of broken links which is easily available on their accounts page, or through the link you have thoughtfully given.
      
      I like the strike through as a service for readers of the hub because with the best will in the world, hubbers with lots of hubs don't have time to immediately repair bad links which may involve searching out new references to replace the broken links. The strike through is a great and professional-looking little service to save the reader the irritation of clicking on a link only to get an error message, until such time as the hubber can amend the link satisfactorily.

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5. 72

   clivewilliamsposted 9 years ago

   Is this a hubpage feature or a google deafult feature?

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6. 72

   relacheposted 9 years ago

   The strikeout is a newish HubPages feature just added in July,
   
   http://blog.hubpages.com/2014/07/broken-link-changes/

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7. 85

   rebekahELLEposted 9 years ago

   + It's a wonderful feature.  I came across it first while browsing one of my hubs.

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