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Originally Posted by Hitch
Really? So if, like me, you knew from making thousands of Kindle eBooks and reading thousands more, that 99.99% of all eBook builders have NO idea how to suppress the link indicators, you'd click on it anyway?
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Though not explicitly asked, I'll venture an answer purely from my own perspective ...
Experience of that sort cannot be disputed, but the relevance of that for prediction is somewhat up for grabs.
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I cannot tell a lie. I wouldn't bother. Why would I? In Amazon, in Kindle? You know damned well that if it ain't underlined, ain't gray, (or blue) you have a nearly 100% chance that it's NOT linked, don't you? But you'd click it anyway, Jellby?
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I would. I've got to THINK that a lot of people would (but we're really only throwing around opinions, hunches, and at best anecdotal impressions here). WHY would I click on it? Because I'm reading a hypertext document. Here's this symbol that is not standard punctuation in its context. It seems to serve no function other than being (possibly) something to click. It also, in a print book, would be an indicator to a footnote or endnote. It's in a position where one might expect something to click to get to more information. And I've certainly seen other hypertext documents in which there are such links. I don't try to convince myself that it ISN'T a link, and I don't do that by thinking about my knowledge of the technical capabilities of 99.99% of Kindle authors. I'm just reading the book and see this distinctive character in a suggestive place.
It's there. I click it. Of course I do.
Et voila!
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Or are you really thinking about ePUB, here?
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Um ... not me, at least. It's also difficult for me to see either clicking the asterisk or creating documents in which it is thus employed as a threat to civilization as we know it.
Would I do it on contract or for hire in the case of a book for a client? Maybe (even probably in most cases) not. But maybe so. I also think the advisability of such a technique is dependent on the type of book in question and the intended demographic of readers.