Nobody should be using URL shorteners in the first place.
Afaik, originally they solved the problem twitter has created: URLs were counted together with the tweet text - with overall limit of 140.
URL shorteners are but inherently bad. I find them useful. I self host them on domains I own. So they’re secure, trust worthy, I can track engagement, and I can update them if need be.
Plus, I’m pretty sure Twitter forces you to use their shortener. My URL http://gho.st was “shortened” to a longer https://t.co/blahblah URL 😂
I can track engagement, and I can update them if need be
That’s inherently bad as in:
- Third party (you) tracking the user
- Hiding the true target from the user
- Destroying any attempt at content archival
They’re not inherently bad “for you”, just for everyone else.
Third party (you) tracking the user
I’m not tracking users, I’m tracking engagement. I’m not Zuckerberg
Hiding the true target from the user
99.99% of website use a reverse proxy, the target is nearly always hidden. I don’t think you understand how the internet works.
Destroying any attempt at content archival
Who would archive a shortened URL and not follow the link to its target? It’s not my fault if people don’t know how to archive my content.
URL shorteners are not inherently bad.
I see zero reason why others would be entitled to archive your content, nor hiding the true target from the user. Those are not bad things.
You being able to track engagement is bad, actually.
This obviously depends on the context. For instance, I’m speaking at a public event and I put a link up on a presentation to my website. The website is running on my nginx server so I could already track every visit. Having a shortened URL helps me gauge the value of my talk. It’s not black and white
Real name and face on the internet guy doesn’t get to have an opinion on tracking.
deleted by creator
It’s like assuming someone doesn’t understand hygiene because they shit on the floor, so unreasonable.
I don’t believe in security by obscurity
I self host them on domains I own.
I’ve been trying to get a short domain to do exactly that, do you know any good brokers?
No sorry, I was just lucky and persistent
Not the OP, but if all you need is a domain, namecheap.com is solid and very affordable.
deleted by creator
Why is that? They can be useful - especially if you are including links in something like a print publication
Privacy: trackers, trackers, trackers Security: you can’t know where you would be taken with a short link. A legit website? A malicious website? Who knows.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ygrauer/2016/04/20/five-reasons-you-should-stop-shortening-urls/
deleted by creator
Eh I don’t think it’s malicious in nature but can’t prove it either is or isn’t. They might be doing more analysis on some outbound links or users for something or just A/B testing some additional methods for gathering more data. Unsure. But I wouldn’t immediately jump to intentional.
If adding some analytics adds 5s to the load time, then they need to fire their developers.
There’s no way this is accidental.
That’s kind of the problem, they did fire their developers.
with that asshole in command? Uhm…
Every bad decision there is intentional
The fact that specific domains and user agents are effected by this says otherwise. Take a look in the link for people discussing curling the urls and their findings.
It’s Elmo.
It’s definitely malicious in nature.
But I wouldn’t immediately jump to intentional.
occam’s razor says you should ;)
But Hanlon’s razor says you shouldn’t.
All right, we got a razor fight!
Hanlon’s razor says you shouldn’t.
yeah, but that applies to a problem where you don’t have any additional information. if you do have background information of any kind, you would be wise to take them into account.
All right, we got a razor fight!
my razor is ready, bring it on! 😆
