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The current behaviour is correct as far as I'm concerned. The retired  
information is no longer available for use, but links to it still work.  
Deleting information outright is dangerous, and would require all 
sorts  
of nasty checks throughout the code. An "is_retired" method is  
essential, and should have been written a long time ago. "Unretiring"  
should also be possible. "retire that doggy and take him out   
of my Multilink" is available right now, as a two-step process.