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If a hyperlink is broken and I am editing to update it with the new working URL, should I:

  • replace the existing broken url with new one, or
  • leave the old one intact and add the new one below.

It could get confusing when I replace an existing URL for example if a comment say something like "link is broken". On the other hand it makes the post messy to keep around the broken URL.

For example my pending edit on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59222/software-architecture-related-podcasts/1605490#1605490 answer by Riussi, Oct 22, 2009.

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  • To be honest that entire question has been closed for very good reasons, I wouldn't worry to much what happens to it
    – Richard Tingle
    Oct 10, 2013 at 17:00
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    I'd replace and use edit-summary like "fixing broken link: <URL1> replaced with <URL2>". That way, anyone interested can quickly find out details in the revisions-list
    – gnat
    Oct 10, 2013 at 17:00
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    If you edit a new link in to replace a broken one, you can always flag any comments mentioning a broken link; flag it as "obsolete" and a mod can delete them.
    – Laura
    Oct 10, 2013 at 18:47
  • Thanks @Laura, I like that idea.
    – JohnC
    Jan 18, 2016 at 19:32

1 Answer 1

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Consider the perspective of a user coming to read the answer. Will they care that there was once a different link, which is now broken? No, it's just noise, and it can't help the user, since the content it once linked to is now gone.

As @gnat writes in his comment, it's better to save this sort of metadata for the edit history.

That said, I would make sure that the link is a direct mirror for the broken link. Otherwise, it might be better to simply leave a comment for the author of the post (perhaps with a suggested replacement URL), to ensure that the original intent is retained.

As for your particular example, it is essentially a link-only post - these are discouraged for this very reason, because links can go out of date! To boot, the question has been closed an not constructive.

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