Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
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@paveljanicek @catsalad @hpod16 inevitably these end up getting used by scammers sadly
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16 Same goes for links to documents instead of pages. I'd like to see some sort of clear declaration if what I'm about to click/tap will start downloading a file.
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@hpod16 I prefer URL embiggeners (especially the sketchy looking ones)
@catsalad I’m both surprised and not surprised that somebody went and made one of these.
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16@eupolicy.social
I once liked them, when the character count was important in SMS or on Twitter. But now, there's no advantage but several drawbacks. -
Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16 @LordCaramac i think its good for situations where people might need to type manually. flyer, presentations, …
mostly replaced by QR codes, i guess.
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@paveljanicek @catsalad @hpod16 inevitably these end up getting used by scammers sadly
@dngrs @paveljanicek @catsalad @hpod16 ...why would the scammer use a "make the link more suspicious" button? If their links look like that, it's because these tools are based off of phishing links lol not because the scammers used the tool
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@hpod16@eupolicy.social I don’t like them, but if it’s something like youtu.be links where you don’t really lose information, then it’s ok.
@breizh @hpod16 this: I wouldn't mind link shorteners that don't hide where I'm going. If there were more vetted ones, I'd probably be down for those (currently the only ones I trust are corporate ones, which feels icky but also like... People can't really set a youtu.be link to some random scammy shit other than a YouTube video lol)
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
If it's a preview link, then I'm fine with it. Otherwise it's definitely a security risk that needs to be handled better.
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@breizh @hpod16 this: I wouldn't mind link shorteners that don't hide where I'm going. If there were more vetted ones, I'd probably be down for those (currently the only ones I trust are corporate ones, which feels icky but also like... People can't really set a youtu.be link to some random scammy shit other than a YouTube video lol)
@raphaelmorgan@disabled.social @hpod16@eupolicy.social I know a french podcast that does it properly too.
The full URL is https://cpu.dascritch.net/post/2015/12/10/Ex0012-Ingénierie-d-Internet and the short one is https://cpu.pm/12 (for the 12th episode).
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@hpod16
They are potentially evil. Only existed because original Twitter was a stupid design and had too small a text limit as if the Internet was an early GSM phone,@raymaccarthy @hpod16 To be fair, Twitter originally used to send you all the tweets of people you followed by SMS.
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16 They just add another point of failure, so when you return to a saved link years later you have to hope that the shortening service is still up as well as the site hosting the actual resource.
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@hpod16 Yes, in some circumstances: if I trust the shortening service and it’s a printed URL (for inside, on a flyer) that I’ll have to type.
@hpod16 for instance, not for inside. Sheesh.
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
Mastodon serves URLs as 23 characters.
If a url is 47 characters long its 23 characters, if its 22 characters,its 23 characters, if it's a shortened URL of 13 characters, its always 23 characters on Mastodon.
The only use of URL shortness is to fool clickers about the destination of the click.
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16 The only purpose or value I can see to them is when one has to manually type something in. But there are usually better ways of handling even that. (For example, QR codes so you don't have to type in the first place.) If I need to pass a complex URL over to my phone or something I usually paste it into a QR code generator and uncover the camera.
(As a side note, there are QR code apps that can show the URL before actually loading it and I do appreciate that.)
A lot of people here already know this, but of course URL shorteners can go bad and even URLs get taken over...
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16 There is also the fact that a shortener can be and nearly always is used to track analytics, often with a focus on networks of affiliations. I do not want to be monitored!
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16 internet marketing (Google!) loves to use url shorteners as gateways/funnels, to measure traffic, track audience. Its a Trojan horse, you don't know what you're getting into.
So no, not a fan. -
@xyhhx @catsalad @paveljanicek @hpod16 the only legit shortener is one that block you anf force you to install an adblocker before you get redirected to the actual pagr. Redirection is immediate if an adblocker is detected
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Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16
Only if generating a qr code -
Do people actually appreciate URL shorteners?
@hpod16 Then again, you're asking on the Fediverse. Your sample is already skewed towards IT-savvy weirdos. This might be very different on some sides of Instagram.
