Aren't you glad you didn't cite this webpage?

The page was cited in a Supreme Court decision, but of course giving a URL is far less permanent than giving a citation to an article in a newspaper, magazine, journal, etc. Since the Supreme Court just gave the URL, if it weren't for the Wayback machine coincidentally happening to grab it, we would never be able to see what Justice Alito was actually referring to.

Re: Aren't you glad you didn't cite this webpage?

#6

Post by 3JPLW » Tue, Oct 08, 2013, 4:27 PM UTC

Here's a good link for context - a NYT article from September 23, "In Supreme Court Opinions, Web Links to Nowhere:" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/us/politics/in-supreme-cou...

From the first two paragraphs: "Supreme Court opinions have come down with a bad case of link rot. According to a new study[1], 49 percent of the hyperlinks in Supreme Court decisions no longer work.

This can sometimes be amusing. A link in a 2011 Supreme Court opinion[2] about violent video games by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. now leads to a mischievous error message[3]."

1. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/futureoftheinternet/2013/09/22/...

2. http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-1448.ZC.html

3. http://ssnat.com/

Re: Aren't you glad you didn't cite this webpage?

#7

Post by avree » Tue, Oct 08, 2013, 4:28 PM UTC

geuis wrote: post #4

Sorry, but I don't know the context of this story. Can someone explain?

Here's the NYT article it vaguely references. Lot more content, plus an explanation. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/us/politics/in-supreme-cou...

It's basically highlighting how there's a lot of linkrot, which makes re-reading old Supreme Court decisions difficult.

Re: Aren't you glad you didn't cite this webpage?

#8

Post by bcoates » Tue, Oct 08, 2013, 4:36 PM UTC

I'm more worried that the Justice Alito is apparently unaware of the phenomenon of vaporware:

  There are games in which a player can take on the
  identity and reenact the killings carried out by
  the perpetrators of the murders at Columbine High
  School and Virginia Tech.

But both the news article and the now defunct website he cites clearly state that the game doesn't exist.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/04/20/school-shooter-video-gam...

Re: Aren't you glad you didn't cite this webpage?

#9

Post by raykay » Tue, Oct 08, 2013, 4:46 PM UTC

That's a 200 disguised as a 404. Shame!

Re: Aren't you glad you didn't cite this webpage?

#10

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 08, 2013, 4:48 PM UTC

bcoates wrote: post #8

I'm more worried that the Justice Alito is apparently unaware of the phenomenon of vaporware: There are games in which a player can take on the identity and reenact the killings carried out by the perpetrators of the murders at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech. But both the news article and the now defunct website he cites clearly state that the game doesn't exist. http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/04/20/school-sh…

[deleted]