Counterpoint to that is the bizarre "everything must be a link!" state of things on modern websites. Heck, even on hn - click on a user's name in these replies,

Counterpoint to that is the bizarre "everything must be a link!" state of things on modern websites. Heck, even on hn - click on a user's name in these replies, it goes to their profile page. great! then on that profile page, the user's name is... a link back to the same page.