Gregory's ServerScrew you Google, how much does it cost to keep an HTTP server with a database full of redirects running indefinitely, you cheap pricks
 13 comments
@drewdevault where do you encounter goo.gl links? Were they generated by Google products when sharing content?  @drewdevault Or at least escrow the data to 301works.org, set up for precisely the case of "eh fuck it, we'll stop serving the shortlinks" @drewdevault if you wanna help without the luxury of getting the db, people are currently organising in #archiveteam-bs (still deciding on a dedicated channel name) the url shortener project has been running for a while now, including for goo.gl urls   @drewdevault @carbontwelve and they could be permanent redirects, so only one query per browser instance! Cheapskate late-notice dick-move mother-fucking fuckers. @drewdevault they could have put in an intermediate page where they show an ad for like 5 seconds before moving on to the redirect and made enough in the first week to finance it for 1000 years, just insane that they aren't able to keep anything running.  @drewdevault Seemingly significantly more than they can make with selling off the access data to other advertisers or other interested parties. Is the price for personal data really that low?  @drewdevault That? Probably not much. Dealing with "you host CSAM and we are mad" / "you host malware and we are mad" / "you host copyright infringing content and we are mad" / "Google supports racism / misogyny / hates trans people by enabling XXX to use their URL shortener?" A lot more.  you can stop accepting new urls to shorten without shitcanning the years' worth that already exist.
CC: @drewdevault@fosstodon.org  @drewdevault Google maps links look like https://maps.app.goo.gl/some-id, are they cutting that as well?? |
I'm glad that URL shorteners have fallen hard out of favor these days