@BenRossTransit it’d perhaps be better if we could go back!

use of citation counts to rank academic work definitely contributed to the change. that’s often lamented but unlikely to be reversed. extending and automating the practice was the core of Google PageRank.

then citations became roads across which eyeballs predictably roll, when the web made them links. eyeballs become influence and ad money. so whether or not it is intended, a link functions as a degree of endorsement.