Linking Policy

We welcome guest contributions, but we adhere to strict-antispam policies on our site and we do not participate in SEO or link-building schemes.  

Please keep these policies in mind as you prepare your submission: 

  •  We do not carry paid advertising on our website.  Consistent with that policy, we disfavor embedded links to commercial sites.
  •  An embedded link is a hot-link that is tied to specific word or phrase within the body of a post.  We will review all embedded links in submissions, and may do one or more of the following:
    • We may remove the link entirely.
    • We may opt to retain the link, but set the link to “nofollow.”
    • We may retain the link but tie it to different text within the article.
    • We may retain an outside link but substitute a link to an alternative website.
    • We may simply remove the sentence or paragraph containing the link.
  • We do consider embedded links appropriate in some settings, including:
    • An attribution link:  If quoting from a person or an article on another site, a link to the original source may be appropriate.
    • An image credit or source link.
    • Reference links:   Links to definitions or to original source articles that are discussed within the body of a post.
  • Footnotes or Endnotes:   It is acceptable to include links to other sites as footnotes or in a list at the end of an article.
    • We encourage adherence to academic standards, including linking to original sources of quotes or assertions, or to research cited.  For example, a general statement such as, “recent research shows…..” might be accompanied by a note specifying the specific research cited.
    • We prefer links to non-commercial, authoritative sources rather than to commercial sites or personal blogs.
    • We will evaluate the linked sites for reputation and reliability, and may substitute links as appropriate.
    • Links to social media are disfavored.
    • Links to pages with frequently changing content are disfavored.
    • Links to sites with paywalls are disfavored.
    • Tip: You can embed a footnote in a page by using the shortcode shown below. You can include any sort of text or link in the footnote. If you place this shortcode in your text, where you want your footnote, the shortcode will automatically create the numbered note and will also add the text of the note at the end of the article.1
[note]Your footnote goes here. [/note]

We may modify links included within articles at any time after publication.  The most common reason that links are modified or removed after an article has been published is that the link is broken, inactive, or discovered to be redirecting to a different site or page than originally intended.

You may include a link your own website within your user profile, and are encouraged to do so.   This can be a personal or business website and can be your own site, or the site of your employer.  However, we do not allow links to essay-writing services.

References

  1. Here is an example of how a footnote created this way looks.
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