linkrot

See also: link rot

English

WOTD – 28 September 2023

Etymology

From link (hyperlink) +‎ rot (process of becoming rotten).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈlɪŋkˌɹɒt/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈlɪŋkˌɹɑt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: link‧rot

Noun

linkrot (uncountable)

  1. (Internet) The steady increase in the number of broken hyperlinks as webpages are moved or removed.
    Synonym: URL rot
    • 2021 June 30, Jonathan Zittrain, “The Internet is Rotting”, in The Atlantic[1], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 September 2023:
      It turns out that link rot and content drift are endemic to the web, which is both unsurprising and shockingly risky for a library that has “billions of books and no central filing system.”

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Further reading