The dictionary definition of a footnote¹ is a note² usually found at the bottom of the page of a book³ that comments on a certain part of the text⁴.

Because of their positioning⁵ readers have to constantly move from where they are reading⁶ to the bottom of the page, or end of the chapter, and therefore people who refer to footnotes can constantly lose their place. This is particularly annoying⁷ if one is reading footnotes on the Internet because of the constant requirement to scroll the page⁸.

A footnote can also be something done after more important work has been completed⁹, and thus can be seen as something of an afterthought¹⁰.

To learn more about adding footnotes to your own guide entries, Using GuideML in the Edited Guide is a useful reference.

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¹ Please note that in this article about footnotes no actual dictionary definition has been used. What you will read is merely what that definition may look like if it had been defined as such in a dictionary.
² By note, that doesn't mean the text contained within a footnote need be superfluous to the main bulk of the text within the page, although it often is.
³ Footnotes can also be found at the end of chapters, or, in particularly unhelpful books, at the end of an entire script. Those at the end of the books are often called endnotes because they are at the end of the book. Please note that footnotes are so called because they are at the foot of the page, and have nothing at all to do with feet (unless of course the piece of text they are referencing has something to do with feet).
⁴ This isn't necessarily true. Footnotes can sometimes have nothing to do with the text at all (see footnote 5).
⁵ If you must use the M4, for God's sake don't just sit in the middle lane.
⁶ Obviously they don't have to literally get up and move somewhere else. However, had you carried on reading rather than bothering to find this footnote, you would already realise that.
⁷ It is generally agreed that this sentence could have ended here and become far more powerful in the process. However, the Researcher decided to continue with something about the Internet.
⁸ Alternatively, just ignore the footnotes entirely. This is very difficult, though, as one assumes there might just be a single special occasion where one misses a gem of information in a footnote that could utterly change life, the universe, and everything.
⁹ This is actually the real reason for footnotes: they allow an author to put things in that they'd previously forgotten, without the need to rewrite a large portion of text.
¹⁰ See footnote 9.

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