https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16561

--- Comment #9 from Stefan Nowak <[email protected]> 2010-04-12 16:43:34 BST ---
>From the technical reasoning above, it seems that the technical implementation
of this enhancement is not so easy. In particular I am not familiar with the
MediaWiki source code. And in general my programming skills are on a low level.

Despite this technical circumstances, I see a HIGH POTENTIAL in this
enhancement for the USABILITY of MediaWiki for both READERS and EDITORS,
positively affecting content quality control/improvement! (Reasoning in detail
below)

@Developers: Please, someone volunteer!

Besides this: Is there a formal possibility to submit a feature request to
WikiMedia Foundation, which if convinced, then puts "official emphasis" on a
particular enhancement towards the volunteering community, or even commissions
it to paid developers?

----

CURRENT STATUS:

On PageA: Some text. A link to [[PageB#Section1]]. Some more text.
Some time later, PageB is restructured, featuring no more Section1.
If I then read PageA, the link to [[PageB#Section1]] appears as a completely
ordinary link.
If I click on it, I get to the root of PageB (at least), but not to the
dedicated section!

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENT:

The link to the non-existing section shall have a different appearance.

BENEFITS:

IMPROVED USABILITY for the PURE READER:
S/he knows that the link points to a page which still exists, but that the
section does not exist anymore. This visual distinction helps to quickly
mentally reassess the accuracy/expectancy for that particular link. You may not
follow it at all, choose another link, or visit it, but with a lowered
expectation, knowingly that you will not find your desired information
instantly, but that you will have to spend some time to find your desired
content.

QUALITY CONTROL/IMPROVEMENT tool for the ENTHUSIASTIC READER/EDITOR:
S/he knowingly spots the broken section link and can correct it. Either to a
new section, which more or less closely matches the old one, or to the root of
the page at least, or to a totally new page, if necessary.

FACTUAL BASIS:
I have not collected empirical evidence, how often I encounter broken
cross-page section links, and how long it takes me to eventually get to links
supposedly content. AFAIR it happens quite sometimes! If it helps a potential
volunteering developer to have more reasoning/evidence, I am ready to
provide/collect!

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