0651 — documentation links related mechanisms in context
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Context
Board listings and adjacent-thread links make every document reachable, but they do not tell a reader where a prerequisite or deeper mechanism becomes relevant. A generic related-content box loses that context, while a link quota rewards links whether or not they help. Generic anchor text also withholds the destination from a reader scanning the sentence.
Decision
When another thread owns a prerequisite, the detailed mechanism, or a relevant contrast, documentation links its first useful mention. The anchor text names what the reader will find. This is reviewed as prose: there is no link quota, generated related-thread box, or mechanically added link.
Consequences
An otherwise self-contained page owes no link. The page author decides whether leaving the explanation inline would duplicate another page’s job, then links that page instead. Board membership remains the site’s one structural grouping; contextual links express only the relationship the surrounding sentence names.