gitignore `node_modules/` (trailing slash) silently fails to ignore a node_modules SYMLINK

A repo used a symlinked node_modules (node_modules -> ../other-repo/node_modules, a common trick to share one install across sibling worktrees/clones). Despite .gitignore containing the standard node_modules/ entry, git status showed ?? node_modules as untracked. Any agent or developer running git add -A would commit the symlink blob into history. Easy to misread as "gitignore is broken" or "the file was force-added".