Fact-Checking Links Conundrum

I'm trying to figure out what would be the best way to include fact-checking links in posts.

One thought is to use the relevant words in the posts as the thing to click on to go to where ever I found the information I'm referring to. But I've noticed a lot of websites use this for ads instead of fact-checking.

(You know - you move your mouse pointer over the different colored words in the paragraph you are reading and up pops an ad for something that may or may not even be relevant. Those ads annoy me so I avoid them. Unless I'm fact-checking, then I'll hover over the link to see what happens.)

There are a couple web sites that I frequent that actually use the linked words for fact-checking or as links to other related posts on their web site. Because I frequent those web sites so often I know what to expect.

On the other hand, someone new to the web site (or blog in this case) may have the same aversion I have to the ad word links. They might not click on the link words to continue learning by reading the linked-to related posts, news articles or documents (pdf files, images, charts, graphs, etc).

Another thought is to just dump all the fact-checking links at the bottom of the page and have a number assigned to them that matches the numbers scattered throughout the blog post. Kind of like footnotes in a reference book.

I hate footnotes. I'm constantly going back and forth between what I was reading and the footnotes clear at the bottom of the page (or worse, at the back of the book). But then, other folks may prefer this.

Before I click on a link I check out it's URL to see where it comes from. If the URL has "wsj", or "reuters" in the beginning I know it comes from a big-name news source. If the URL begins with a web site or blog I frequent I'm even more likely to click-through (actually, open in another web browser tab for later).

Not everyone who uses the Internet may be savvy enough to know how to check the URL without actually clicking through. Having fact-checking and/or topic related links listed at the bottom, in full-length, may prove useful, maybe even desirable, to some because then they can see where that link may take them before clicking on it.

So a link dump at the bottom of the page could be useful to some.

Hmm...

Maybe... some combination of both ideas?

I could put a short message near the end of each post saying something like, "The colored words in the above post are links to related news articles, posts or documents. They are not ads.".

That would let new or infrequent visitors know, in general, what those colored words are linked to.

Instead of just dumping a bunch of links at the bottom I could put a meaningful description next to each one.

That might help folks determine if the link is interesting enough to investigate further or not.

Hmm...




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