title: MongoDB - is DBREF necessary?
body: <p>Using the <a href="http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Database+References#DatabaseReferences-DBRef" rel="noreferrer">DBREF datatype</a> in MongoDB, a document may look like as shown below. But having the <code>$ref</code> field in every row feels redundant as every row obviously points to the <code>users</code> collection.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to reference other documents without having the somewhat redundant <code>$ref</code>-field?</p>
  
  <pre><code>{
      $id: {$oid : "4f4603820e25f4c515000001"},
      title:   "User group",
      users: [ 
          {_id: {$ref: "users", $id: { $oid: "4f44af6a024342300e000002"}}, isAdmin: true }
      ]
  ],
  </code></pre>