E2 hardlinks and the ideal reader

Let‘s say I mention in my write-up an avant-garde jazz pianist. How this should be hardlinked?

1. avant-garde jazz pianist – that is, one link
2. avant-garde jazz pianist or avant-garde jazz pianist – two links
3. avant-garde jazz pianist – three independent links

The third option is most generic – the reader is invited to see what do people over E2 think about each of these terms: avant-garde, jazz and pianist. Yet, it is perhaps too generic. It‘s advantage is that it presupposes least of reader‘s knowledge.
The second option is more interesting. Yet, the decision must be made – what is more important, avant-garde jazz or jazz pianist? That is, does the reader knows (or better yet, is interested in) what jazz pianist is, and thus would rather read about avant-garde jazz, or has some notion of avant-garde jazz and is more interested in jazz pianists?
The first option is most concrete, and leaves little for the reader to decide.

Assuming that all of those nodes really exist, the probability of getting some useful information is higher for the shorter (one or two word) links than for the cluster.
But the decision must be made. In the end, you think about your ideal reader and choose one option. It affects the way people move around E2 greatly. Of course, they can search by themselves – they‘re not limited to the explicit links, but is their attention focused enough? After all, we‘re just surfing...

With some careful planning, you can solve most of your conundrums with pipelinking.

If your node is about Peter Jazzpianoplayer, you can make it into:

[avant-garde jazz piano|Peter Jazzpianoplayer]

This way, you're free to point people in more directions by linking to more relevant information. I'd personally guess a lot of folks wouldn't know what avant-garde meant, so I'd hardlink it as [avant-garde], but make sure that where you link it to is correct. If avant-garde is noded as avant garde with no hyphen, pipelink yours to [avant garde|avant-garde].

Now, with jazz piano, you can break it down into two related links:
[jazz] and [jazz piano|piano]

Now, you're sending them exactly where you want them to go to learn more about your specific topic.

Here's the solution that I use the most:

I will see if avant-garde jazz pianist already exists as a node. Most of the time, that specific wording isn't a node, but let's say, there is write-up for avant-garde jazz. I would hardlink to that. The bigger the idea that it encompasses, the more likely someone who clicks on it will be interested as well.

Don't forget to friggin softlink!@#

Okay so the hardlink problem is solved. It links to the node that will have the most relevant information. What if I want to know what the hell avant-garde is? I'd have to type it in the search box and try to find the correct spelling, and after all of that it might not be the node I even want!

Take the time to go through your nodes, and softlink pertinent information. A well-written (including linking) write-up only improves E2.