Responses and backlinks

Link an article as a direct response to another. Project Broadsheet renders a response banner on the new article and a backlinks section on the original, connecting them automatically.

The response system enables discourse across articles. When a writer publishes a response, rebuttal, or follow-up to another article, they declare that relationship in the front matter. Project Broadsheet handles the linking in both directions: a banner on the responding article points readers to the original, and the original article gains a backlinks section listing all responses.

Mark an article as a response

In the responding article's front matter:

---
title: "In Defense of Incrementalism: A Response"
author: jane-doe
responseTo: /opinion/the-case-against-incrementalism/
---

The responseTo value is the URL path of the article being responded to. It must be an article that exists in the same publication.

What readers see

On the responding article, a banner appears between the article header and the body:

In response to: The Case Against Incrementalism by Jon Ajinga

On the original article, a backlinks section appears at the bottom:

Responses to this article

• In Defense of Incrementalism: A Response — Jane Doe, April 19, 2026

Both sections render automatically. No template edits are needed.

Multi-level responses

An article can respond to another response, creating a chain:

Article A
└── Article B (responseTo: /path/to/a/)
    └── Article C (responseTo: /path/to/b/)

Each article shows only its direct parent as the responseTo link, and only its direct children in its backlinks. Deeper threading is navigated by following the chain.

Cross-author and cross-section responses

Responses work across sections and authors. A response from the Opinion section to an Analysis piece by a different author is fully supported. The responseTo path is all that matters.

Responses vs. series

Use series for multi-part investigations with a planned structure. Use responses for open-ended debate where multiple writers weigh in independently.

What to do next

• Series for ordered multi-part articles.
• Corrections for updating factual errors in published articles.
• Argument maps for structuring the thesis of opinion and analysis pieces.