Our roads connect both ways, web links - not quite. When you visit any page, you only see outgoing links, but not incoming links. The Web is just a digraph, not an undirected graph. So, you can't navigate the web like a maze of rooms connected with tunnels. Rather, you're forced to navigate it only one direction (just like with time dimension in real world).

So, how can we endow it with property of bi-directionality?

What about having a Public Registry of Referrers, an extended link format for intended bidirectional links. The link format like the following could be sufficient:

<a href="some-url" b>Hello, Link</a>

(letter "b" could mean that it is intentionally public bidirectional link, and that the world registry of links would have to register it, whereas upon removal of it or changing to ordinary link - auto-remove it from the registry.)

This will come in handy for creation of the long-wanted study-maze (link), where, like in the real world, we have to navigate a graph, not a digraph.
-- Mindey, Nov 16 2020

3D Study Maze 3D_20Study_20Maze
(the old idea that needs it) [Mindey, Nov 16 2020]

XMaze https://xmaze.mindey.com
(still working prototype) [Mindey, Nov 16 2020]

Digraph https://en.m.wikipe...graph_(orthography)
Word choice? [pertinax, Nov 16 2020]

Digraph https://en.wikipedi...wiki/Directed_graph
A -----> B rather than A <-------> B [zen_tom, Nov 18 2020]

The Bi Directional weblink source will come from... My browser history online
[pashute, Nov 19 2020]

It tries to generate back-associations, adding a one-to-many mesh of links to the existing many-to-one system provided by conventional URLs.

We foresee massive inadvertent recursion, logic loops, accidental denial-of-service cascades, the failure of the Web, the collapse of communications, disruption to trade, famine, war, and the complete collapse of your civilization.

Jolly good, carry on.
-- 8th of 7, Nov 16 2020


Isn't this what Google does? Counts pages that link to pages that mention what you're searching for..?
On that note, this would be very easy to make a mess of; set up pages full of random links, akin to the way some annoying people "re-arrange" Google results by making irrelevant links.
-- neutrinos_shadow, Nov 17 2020


//We foresee massive inadvertent recursion, logic loops, accidental denial-of-service cascades, the failure of the Web,//

Feels like just the sort of thing necessary to maintain the need for a human-in-the-loop. When the AI goes, "wait, that just leads... I don't understand"... that's where humans shine "simply replace that number in the link with the thing on the post-it note and there we go... now let me scan all these post-it notes and save them to the desktop.
-- bs0u0155, Nov 17 2020


Sounds like the web link rings of the olden times.
-- tatterdemalion, Nov 17 2020


[pertinax] re word-choice, digraph is fairly standard shorthand for directed-graph, i.e. a network of nodes and edges where the edges have a strict direction of travel. In a (n undirected) graph, you can freely move around from one node to the next via an edge - and back again - but in a di(rected)graph, it's possible for edges to be arranged such that you end up in a dead-end for example.
-- zen_tom, Nov 18 2020


Thank you.
-- pertinax, Nov 18 2020


This reminds me of pingbacks of blogging days.
-- chronological, Nov 20 2020


Nature only really flows one way. Only mankind has dual carriage ways.Nerves don't even have backflow but flow forward looping round.

In saying that, software is open to programmed any way you want. I just think it will be niche use only, not world wide.
-- wjt, Nov 22 2020


What about printed URLs in scholarly journal references, books, or advertising posters and hoardings? These should also be referenced by this system.

For example the back of a tin of pro-ascorbic dilutant retarder is printed with the text "visit www.rentishams.co.uk or follow us on twitter @rentishamsiscoolandtrendy53 and instagram @rentishamsiscoolandtrendy53b for special offers and news of our latest products"

The system is not complete unless it includes things like this.
-- pocmloc, Nov 22 2020



random, halfbakery