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Only a very few of the sites we surveyed (both efferent and aesthetic) had low densities as defined by Khan and Locatis [93].

A sparsely anchored node provides an opportunity for the reader to reengage with the node before facing the call to follow other paths. An extreme example of this is The Jew's Daughter [45], which provides a single anchor that, when acted on, reconfigures the same node.

The rarer they are, the more valuable they become

Moreover, sparse anchors draw attention to themselves, and authors have taken advantage of this in several ways:

• Afterimage [7] provides a single embedded anchor on the last word of the node, bringing the nodal text to an emphasized conclusion.
  
• Zenobia, Queen of Palmyria's [10] and The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot's [61] sparse use of non-distinguished anchors place great connotative content importance on the anchor.
  
• Him [9] and High Crimson [11] use few anchors to incorporate the look and feel of their anchors to drive the tone of the text--from grey monotone to richly colored.
  
• Same Day Test [25] and Joe's Heartbeat in Budapest [49] use menus to drive reader choices--and the paucity of available choices highlights the reader and character's frustration levels. While density may provide readers with more options and control over the reading, here scarcity makes itself resoundingly known to taunt the reader with the lack of control.
  
• While 25 Ways to Close a Photograph [41] has a densely anchored initial node, each subsequent node has only one anchor back to the original node, creating a closed circuit.
  
• Questacon [55], A List Apart [2], and PeopleSoft [53] use sparse embedded anchors to draw attention only to a few key examples or concepts.

Diversions and reversions

Popup ads present an interesting case of sparse links: as the purpose is to drive traffic to a completely different page, these stand alone anchors usually go to a single link. War Games--Catch The LandMine!! [40] parodies this sparse linking system in a way that highlights connections rather than separations.