Hilarious deep linking policy

Apparently it's "illegal" to link to deep pages...

[mooperlee]

I've just found the funniest linking policy I've ever seen, on a major health portal, PR7, lots of staff running it, good info. They say, on their "About Us" page:

I cannot believe that in the year 2007 there are still major websites out there with such ridiculous, insane link policies. I mean first, it can't possibly be illegal to deep link, I'm sure there have been failed lawsuits to prove this, and second it's so daft in terms of link popularity and just marketing in general.

Why on earth would a webmaster think that this policy was necessary or helpful? I'm baffled!

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:29 pm (utc) on Sep. 25, 2007]
[edit reason] Removed website specifics. [/edit]

[ogletree]

Not to mention a deep link is a good thing. I guess the moron thinks deep links are bad and that all links should go to front page.

[londrum]

some websites try and encourage you to take a particular path through their site.

if it's a medical site, i suppose they might have some reasons. maybe they don't want people to jump straight to a cure before going through a diagnosis.

[reprint]

Health websites may have specific paths for health professionals and general public and certain disclaimers etc. Deep links can bypass these. If claims are made for drugs for instance, legally the side effects must be declared. While all of that might be on one page, it is possible it might be spread over a couple of pages that deep linking might mess up. I suspect they are just covering their rear ends.