The anxiety of the unfollowed link is real. This is why I hate endnotes (in print books).

You've got a point that on webpages, footnotes are effectively endnotes, and too many will produce that horrible feeling of needing to go back to do something. 

Scoresby

alter_native

Why aren't footnotes longer than the articles they come from?

I love footnotes! But I think too many of them in a text can also become distracting.

I think it's similar to having too many links in a text. It creates a scattered reading experience, even though you know you don't _have to_ follow the link _right now_, but you still feel like you should at least not forget that there was a link so you can come back to it.
