Sorry for the confusion in the title. Please use the best term you know.
This is the situation that annoys me: browsing this site can be fun, but too often I end up in dead ends/ at dead posts. This wouldn't be a big problem if it wasn't for an 'advertisment'/ linked post that I followed.
Expected behaviour: If you use a link from the sidebar/ footer it takes you to something that exists with working links.
Suggestion: Whether it's a random function that sets the links or a manual choice, please set an 'if' query to ask that it's not a dead post.
To be honest it reminds me way too much of the Renderosity policy of newsletter with ads that lead to 404 pages (without any explanation, users just have to figure out for themselves that means: sign up first! the article exists but we decided to hide its existence from the hostile world out there).