You could… But I’d rather avoid such heavy handed practices and ruin an otherwise beautiful and light markdown syntax !
Look at that:
{{- $destination := .Destination -}}
{{- if eq $destination "ADD_REF" -}}
{{- warnf "Missing reference for link [%s](%s) in page %s" (.Text|htmlUnescape) $destination .Page.Path -}}
{{- .Text -}}
{{- else if eq $destination "#"}}<ins>{{- .Text -}}</ins>
{{- else if eq $destination "ABBR" -}}<abbr {{with .Title -}}tooltip="{{.}}"{{- end -}} role="term">{{- .Text -}}</abbr>{{- else if eq $destination "DFN" -}}<dfn {{with .Title -}}tooltip="{{.}}"{{- end -}}>{{.Text}}</dfn>
{{else}}{{- $isRemote := and (not (strings.HasPrefix $destination ".")) (strings.Contains $destination ".") -}} {{- if $isRemote -}} {{- .Page.Store.SetInMap "all_sources" .Destination (default .Text .Title) -}} {{- if not (strings.Contains $destination "://") -}} {{- $destination = print "https://" $destination -}} {{- end -}} {{- else -}} {{- $url := urls.Parse .Destination -}}{{- $page := .Page.GetPage $url.Path -}} {{- $fragment := $url.Fragment -}}{{- if $page -}}{{- $destination = $page.RelPermalink -}} {{- with $fragment -}} {{- $destination = print $destination "#" $fragment -}} {{- end -}} {{- else -}} {{with resources.Get .Destination}}{{- $destination = .RelPermalink}}{{end}} {{- end -}} {{- end -}} <a {{with .Title}}tooltip="{{.|$.Page.RenderString}}"{{end}} href="{{- $destination -}}"{{if $isRemote}} rel="external nofollow" target="_blank"{{- end -}}>{{- .Text|safeHTML -}}</a> {{- end -}}
If you want to add references, just make a new else if eq $destination "undisplayed_refs" branch or something to that effect. You would use it like this:
[The Noah Myth in Twenty-First-Century Cli-Fi Novels, Rewritings from a Drowning World, by Helen E. Mundler](undisplayed_refs)