Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Citing sources (section)

===Avoid embedded links===
{{Shortcut|WP:CS:EMBED}}
{{Seealso|WP:NOELBODY}}

Embedded links to external websites should not be used as a form of inline citation, because they are highly susceptible to [[WP:Linkrot|linkrot]]. Wikipedia allowed this in its early years—for example by adding a link after a sentence, like this: <nowiki>[https://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1601858,00.html]</nowiki>, which is rendered as: [https://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1601858,00.html]. This is no longer recommended. Raw links are not recommended in lieu of properly written out citations, even if placed between ref tags, like this <code><nowiki><ref>[https://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1601858,00.html]</ref></nowiki></code>. Since any citation that accurately identifies the source is better than none, do not revert the good-faith addition of partial citations. They should be considered temporary, and replaced with more complete, properly formatted citations as soon as possible.

Embedded links should never be used to place [[WP:EL|external links]] in the content of an article, like this: {{!xt|"[https://example.com {{!xt|Example Inc.}}] announced their latest product ..."}}.