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All posts Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:'s posts Post Back to profile
Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

I see more and more often that people post bit.ly links here. Please don't. First and foremost — it hides the real URL, so I don't know where I am sent to. Second: you force me to use a service that collects, aggregates and shares data on who clicks what when, which I consider very bad practice. Finally, no matter how long your URL is, it only counts as 23 characters in your post, so no need to "shorten" links [1]

TL;DR post real links and don't spy on me. #kthxbai

[1] docs.joinmastodon.org/user/pos.

15 March at 11:35 | Open on social.wildeboer.net
38 comments
Morten Juhl-Johansen

@jwildeboer There should be enough characters here to ditch that particular Twitter habit.
I have an instance of self-hosted link shortener YOURLS, but I use it to make shortlinks for myself for complicated links...

15 March at 11:41 | Open on mstdn.dk
Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

@mjj No matter how long the link is, it only counts as 23 characters in a post. There’s no need to use a “shortener service” which is just a nice sounding name for data hoovers trying to build analytics to sell.

15 March at 11:44 | Open on social.wildeboer.net
Morten Juhl-Johansen

@jwildeboer I remember in the Indieweb context people talking about permashortlinks - indieweb.org/permashortlink
Although I am not sure the arguments listed are all that solid.

15 March at 13:07 | Open on mstdn.dk
Fynn Becker

@mjj @jwildeboer

Links also always count as 23 characters regardless of actual length. So the only reason to use a URL shortener like bit.ly is tracking.

docs.joinmastodon.org/user/pos

15 March at 11:44 | Open on mastodon.social
Tobias Fiebig

@jwildeboer I still need to get the motivation to make shd.li a public service .oO( obviously, this should be read as "sh-dee-li, i.e., shadily, and nothing... else... which might sound similar...)

Core idea:
- no direct-redirect, i.e., see URL first, click to actually visit
- No tracking/external cloud resources
- Bring your own domain
- Full data export for selfhosting (of your own domain)

Example: shd.li/c8E5roP58

Oh, and... btw; The software:
git.as59645.net/AS59645/shrtnr

@jwildeboer I still need to get the motivation to make shd.li a public service .oO( obviously, this should be read as "sh-dee-li, i.e., shadily, and nothing... else... which might sound similar...)

Core idea:
- no direct-redirect, i.e., see URL first, click to actually visit
- No tracking/external cloud resources
- Bring your own domain
- Full data export for selfhosting (of your own domain)

15 March at 12:12 | Open on wybt.net
Tobias Fiebig

@jwildeboer Which, of course, does not invalidate your point of 'well, people don't _need_ a shortener on here'; Which is true... but people ...

The (somewhat crappy) tool for that btw comes from the realization that all available stacks for self-hosted shortening are API-driven data-tracking behemoth... because that's what you want when running shortner. -.-'

15 March at 12:13 | Open on wybt.net
Matthew

@tfiebig@wybt.net I wish public URL shorter are like this where they tell you which you heading so I know I ain't going to get prank/shock video on my screen. Really interesting that!

One thing I will suggest is have some sort of meta description and title that also well what website is it heading to when I am seeing the link on Fedi.

@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net

15 March at 14:33 | Open on blahaj.zone
Doug Webb

@jwildeboer yes! And: a lot of people not posting links at all 🙃 #netiquette

15 March at 12:19 | Open on mastodon.xyz
Julian

@jwildeboer I suspect a lot of people (especially news sites and companies) use URL shorters here because without them they have no metrics on how many people click their links posted here...

15 March at 12:20 | Open on social.jugendhacker.de
Clemens

@jwildeboer Unfortunately red.ht is also run by bit.ly.

15 March at 13:04 | Open on chaos.social
glipari

@jwildeboer

Just to complete your post: you may want also to clean an url before posting it. There are many url cleaner applications available, please avoid posting any url that may track people.

@vicgrinberg

15 March at 13:08 | Open on social.sciences.re
Bimo Novanda

@jwildeboer Others use Tiny URL. Does that have the same problem?

15 March at 13:09 | Open on mstdn.social
Light🐧

@jwildeboer
I for one never every would click on any bit.ly shortened link it's just to much risky, especially because it can hide the URL and I can even glace at least the URL.
Yeah I agree URL shortening has no benefit at all here because it only count the as exact the same amount of characters no matter the length of the URL.
So using them have no benefit.

15 March at 13:31 | Open on hachyderm.io
DELETED

@jwildeboer no one is making anyone click on any links. I don’t understand why everything on this “Fediverse” has to take such a lecturing and sanctimonious tone.
Oh I don’t know that any link counts as 23 chars but no— I’m forcing you into some kind of danger and victimhood.
Get a grip and calm your tits.

15 March at 14:10 | Open on metalhead.club
Matthew

@alfa_vuk@metalhead.club This is me talking with experience back when I download Minecraft mods around 2010s, some shorter URL link services are so dodgy that my Kaspersky won't stop sending notication that they blocked malware from being downloaded while had to wait 5 seconds for adf.ly to allow me to the website the URL shorter was heading to.

I totally get that Fedi can be preachy but URL shortner does have some issue and OP isn't overreacting

@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net

15 March at 14:42 | Open on blahaj.zone
funnymonkey

@jwildeboer Social media has created so many unsound and unsafe practices, with link shorteners among them.

15 March at 14:18 | Open on freeradical.zone
Daniil Baturin

@funnymonkey @jwildeboer The only URL shorteners I don't want to stop existing are those like z6a.info or shadyurl.click

For a sample of their output: z6a.info/hotmai1!Ul9Op+swisslo ;)

15 March at 17:18 | Open on functional.cafe
Matilda

@jwildeboer good post! you might like this android app that's changed my life. it wont show a bit.ly link, but it's great for removing trackers and extra &$% link bits

f-droid.org/packages/com.trian

15 March at 14:31 | Open on aus.social
blhue
Tom Sheppard

@jwildeboer If you're tempted to click the bit.ly link but aren't sure it's safe and want to know the real URL, bit.ly offers a preview service here: support.bitly.com/hc/en-us/p/l

15 March at 14:51 | Open on twit.social
KrissyKat 🏳️‍⚧️

@jwildeboer The .ly also means the domain is controlled by the Libyans.

The Taliban kicked LGBTQ websites off of .af domains recently.

There's always a risk of something like that happening with dot LY top level domains.

15 March at 14:56 | Open on hoosier.social
Alan Langford

@jwildeboer You can leave all that tracking data on my server (and mess with it) through dere.alanlangford.com

15 March at 14:56 | Open on mindly.social
David - Forking Mad

@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net I never follow a link shortener for that first reason -- I have no idea where I am heading.

15 March at 15:32 | Open on ibe.social
katzenberger

@jwildeboer bit.ly and similar "services" are simply a #MitM attack.

15 March at 15:35 | Open on social.tchncs.de
Juggling With Eggs

@jwildeboer

As someone who uses a URL shortner it’s because on my set up (probably something to do with using Tootle and my instance) URLs do count for their exact character count, not 23.

I only use them when it’s impossible to make my point without using them.

If you don’t like clicking on them, then no one is making you.

15 March at 15:59 | Open on mstdn.social
GlOwl Octopus-Faenby

@JugglingWithEggs @jwildeboer if the one post isn't enough i put references in there (¹, ², ³ and so on) and drop all the links into a reply to my post.

much neater for reading too as there are no big character blobs in between.

would be interested how accessible that is for people using screen readers, can anyone tell from experience?
#ScreenReader #BlindFedi

15 March at 19:10 | Open on chaos.social
fool

@jwildeboer I appreciate you taking time to write that post.
For me, anytime I see an URL shortener link I skip and sometimes block the account as well.

The probability that the article is both worthwhile and presents unique remarks is getting increasingly low these days.

And those whom I read for pleasure not for info consumption they can track me however they want. Though coincidentally they usually offer RSS.

15 March at 16:32 | Open on mastodon.world
JeanEvergreen

@jwildeboer Thanks for presenting this information. I did not know that about bit.ly!

15 March at 16:33 | Open on montereybay.social
Martin

@jwildeboer
Yeah, those URL worseners are a plague. I even see people using those in places where characters are not limited…
@IzzyOnDroid

15 March at 16:35 | Open on muenchen.social
Shannon Skinner (she/her)

@jwildeboer
May I add another observation along the same lines?

I often see folks posting super long links that have tracking embedded in them.

Example [altered to disable link]:
portlndleathergoods.com/produc

It seems that many people don't know that everything past the "?" in that link is unnecessary for navigation and only serves to provide tracking.

When copying and pasting links you need only copy up to (and not including) the "?"

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Carry on.

#DigitalMarketing #Privacy #Tracking

@jwildeboer
May I add another observation along the same lines?

I often see folks posting super long links that have tracking embedded in them.

Example [altered to disable link]:
portlndleathergoods.com/produc

It seems that many people don't know that everything past the "?" in that link is unnecessary for navigation and only serves to provide tracking.

15 March at 16:51 | Open on c.im
tony_394c6b6b

@shansterable @jwildeboer Generally sure, but parameters are used to build web pages.

15 March at 17:01 | Open on techhub.social
EaterOfSnacks

@shansterable @jwildeboer I like the new Firefox option to copy a URL without the tracking guff.

15 March at 17:37 | Open on tilde.zone
GlOwl Octopus-Faenby

@shansterable @jwildeboer not always is the information after the '?' for tracking. sometimes there is the product id in a shop in there and if you leave it out you will just get the start page or something similar.

but generally speaking you are right.

15 March at 19:03 | Open on chaos.social
Robin

@jwildeboer
I would add: Third: when the short link provider goes tits up, the links are forever broken.

15 March at 17:36 | Open on teh.entar.net
Alex :anarcho_punk: :demiboy_flag:
khaleer_art

@jwildeboer i never have understood why ppl are using bit fly instead of just giving a link.

15 March at 19:08 | Open on mastodon.art
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