But... like... that's a weird hill to die on.

> If I wanted to know I’d look at the Referer header; and if it isn’t there, it’s probably for a good reason. You abuse your users by adding that to the link.

The reason is that the referrer headers are a usability and privacy nightmare. It's weird for the author to jump to such a conclusion.

This referral information is being done purely as a courtesy to the webhost. If we imagined a world in which ChatGPT or Wikipedia launched massive hugs of death on referral links without attributing themselves, that is a much, much worse outcome.