On Monday, 25 May 2026 at 13:46:27 UTC, Andy Valencia wrote:
I'm seeing a recent trend where postings here are just URL references to messages and example code which are hosted elsewhere. For the immediate author or reader, I suppose this works OK (though if I don't recognize the domain, I almost certainly won't follow a link to it).
Original topic author, as well as the the author of a reply (in this case it was probably me as I can't remember a recent post, except mine that had code pasted on an online pastebin) have the right to chose how they want the content to be written.
If you do not like my answer that contains link to a pastebin site, just please skip it, and think it does not exist!
But another value of this forum--one I've used often--is that it is a standalone repository of the efforts made in asking and answering questions. Link rot is a thing, and it would be a real pity for this forum's archival functions to be degraded by 20%, 30%, perhaps more than 50% by the loss of the content which makes it informative.
"20%, 30%, perhaps more than 50%" ??? This is a terrible overestimation done by someone who is clearly frustrated.
Final thought - How I write my replies is entirely MY business, unless my reply violates the rules of this forum.
