> > I have an odd habit of always using the "back" button to get to some, defined-only-in-my-head, "starting point."
>
> That's funny. I have that same basic habit/need.

I generally like to go back to a "main" page before I go off somewhere else (for example, I would go back to the RinkWorks main page before surfing off to wherever from here). The reason for this is purely utilitarian: it keeps my "back" list from becoming clogged with all kinds of subpages that I'm not going to want to go back to. I navigate very heavily with the "Back" button, so this is kind of important to me.

> But stranger still, something I've NEVER understood, not now, not when I started mucking around on the web before it was a mainstream thing: why on earth would people want "back to" links on subpages of sites that point back at the main page?

The reason all of my subpages carry the "back" link is exactly that: if people get to them from some nefarious route, I want them to be able to get back to my main page easily.