Topic on Talk:Citoid

Boghog (talkcontribs)

Hi. I posted this 9 months ago under Bugs: pmc, redundant urls, and ref tags. The only topic that was discussed when I posted this previously was the pmc accession number prefix (issue #1) and Redundant URLs (isssue #2) got lost in the discussion. Therefore I would like to raise the second undiscussed issue again, this time with more background.

Redundant url parameters are often added when there is another more appropriate and compact parameter that produces exactly the same link. Examples include:

IMHO, Citoid should check the url, and if it matches any of the above patterns, then the more specialized parameter should be populated and the url parameter should be left blank. As it stands now, Citoid is adding both the specialized parameter and the redundant url parameter.

PerfektesChaos (talkcontribs)

Basically you are right.

The German template for printed material w:de:Template:Literatur does support DOI= as well as PMID= and PMC=.

Furthermore, German templates detect URL as above and will issue error messages and urge to use plain ID rather than URL.

Note that dx.doi.org recently changed to doi.org in new usages.

Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

I understand that most readers don't know that the clicking the PMID/doi/etc. numbers will take them to a useful page, but they do understand that clicking an article title that looks like an external link is going to take them to the article. From the POV of a non-technical reader, having the "redundant" link is very helpful.

Boghog (talkcontribs)

I think you are underestimating the intelligence and curiosity of the average reader. Readers understand that blue text contains a hyperlink and links generally lead to useful information. At the very least, if a reader is interested in a source and sees a link in the source, they are liable to clinic on it to see where it leads.

Furthermore the pmc parameter will also link the article title. Therefore |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615317/ is completely redundant with |pmc=5615317.

Reply to "Redundant URLs"