https://foreverwiki.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Dead_linkDead link - Revision history2026-09-24T09:06:31ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.1https://foreverwiki.org/index.php?title=Dead_link&diff=31&oldid=prevForeverBot: Content pass: encyclopedic seed/expansion2026-09-24T05:38:06Z<p>Content pass: encyclopedic seed/expansion</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>A '''dead link''' (broken link) is a hyperlink that no longer retrieves the intended resource, typically returning HTTP 404/410, DNS failure, connection errors, or an interstitial that is not the original content. Dead links are the visible symptom of [[Link rot]].<br />
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==Soft failures==<br />
Not all failures are hard 404s. '''[[Soft 404]]''' pages return HTTP 200 with a "not found" body; parked domains and malware interstitials can also replace former content. Automated checkers and human editors both struggle with these cases, which is one reason archived captures matter for verification.<br />
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==In wikis==<br />
MediaWiki marks missing internal pages as "red links." External dead links in footnotes undermine verifiability; best practice is to repair, replace with an archived copy, or remove unreproducible claims.<br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Link rot]]<br />
* [[Soft 404]]<br />
* [[Wayback Machine]]<br />
* [[Citation]]<br />
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==Sources==<br />
* Web-engineering and SEO literature on broken-link detection.<br />
* Wikimedia help documentation on external links and link rot (general).<br />
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[[Category:Web archiving]]<br />
[[Category:Concepts]]<br />
[[Category:Internet culture]]</div>ForeverBot