Linking[]
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Linking is a balance between providing enough useful links to allow readers to "wander through" articles, overlinking that can distract them from their reading flow causing the eye to shift focus constantly, and underlinking that may frustrate them because they have to search for other sources to answer their questions, interrupting and distracting readers.
The guidelines for linking are:
- Unless it affects negatively a sentence's wording and readability, two links should not be next to each other to look like one link. An example of what should be avoided is writing dungeon chest loot (coded as
[[dungeon]] [[chest]] [[loot]]). Consider rephrasing the sentence or use a single, more specific link instead; for example dungeon chest loot (coded as a piped link[[Chest loot|dungeon chest loot]]). - Links for any single term should not be excessively repeated in the same article (linking the same term multiple times within a portion of text in the same sentence, paragraph, or subsection of prose). Duplicating them too much may become overlinking if the links are too close in proximity. It is acceptable for bulleted lists of terms to duplicate links already in prose.
- Linking to a redirect is preferred over using a piped link, except in templates and other pages that are transcluded. If a piped link is unavoidable, it should not point to a redirect. If a redirect or piped link can be avoided by using a suffix on the link, that is preferred (for example,
[[Creeper]]sinstead of the redirect link[[Creepers]]or the piped link[[Creeper|Creepers]]). - Link to articles that are contextually relevant. For example, linking to Fishing Rod may be appropiate in Tool, but in Mechanics it is better to link to Fishing instead. Terms with minimal relevance to the topic should never be linked more than once or twice (if at all); for example, even though the term "tool" is used in all articles about blocks, and "player" is mentioned in nearly all articles, neither of these terms should be linked often in any article.