Template talk:Dead link

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[edit] Permanent?

Dispenser stated that If "last known good version" is needed then it should be done using {{waybackdate}}. We wouldn't want this to become permanent like dlw* has become. Why not? Λυδαcιτγ 01:15, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

The problem was that editors had in the past used templates {{dlw}} and {{dlw-inline}} to replace the dead links. This defeated the purpose of having {{wayback}}, {{waybackdate}}, and {{waybackref}}. So to increase the distinction between the wayback templates and this template we cut back the usefulness. This emphasized that the template is suppose to merely inform other editors that the link is dead and it should be replaced with a working one. And onto that end the history is just suppose to help them find that working link again. —Dispenser 01:54, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Links in references

How can this be combined with citation templates such as {{cite news}}? For instance, the following citation appears in the article Jessie Gilbert:

"?", AOL, 2006-12-16. Retrieved on Down?. 

The "Down?" was clearly an attempt to indicate that the link listed no longer works. When I saw it I wanted to replace the date field entry "Down?" with the last known date that the link worked (probably 2006-12-16) and flag up the linkrot using {{dead link}} instead but couldn't work out how to, since the url is not enclosed in square brackets. Does anyone have any advice? Purgatorio 17:16, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Just append {{dead link}} after the template, my tool converts the cite template to the bracketed formated before doing its processing. So in most cases it should "just work". The only problem arises with multiple links in a template but those are uncommon. —Dispenser 17:06, 21 September 2007 (UTC)