I clicked on an “Unsubscribe” link in an unsolicited mass e-mail from CNET. Clicking that link returned this somewhat hairy but amusing explanation of the most fundamental unit of currency on the World Wide Web: The Hypertext Link.
CNET Unsubscribe Fail: “Broken” vs. “Unbroken” Links
This incisive tutorial explains (for those who never knew) that links come in a variety of flavors, including “Broken” and “Unbroken“. “Broken” links are caused by the somewhat opaquely referenced phenomenon of “wrapping”. The needless use of quotation marks in CNET’s little tutorial is notably obtuse, as is the waste of a damn fine apostrophe in “it’s”:
“Broken Link” caused by text “wrapping”. Note: Often the “broken” portion of the link loses it’s (sic) blue underlined style.
Thanks for the lesson, CNET. Now please unsubscribe me from your damn mailing list!
