"But it’s still a closed, proprietary database and there’s no way to decode an “Oh By Code” if the service goes down, which is the disadvantage number one you h

"But it’s still a closed, proprietary database and there’s no way to decode an “Oh By Code” if the service goes down, which is the disadvantage number one you have with URL shorteners." Yes, that's correct. In this case, "Oh By" will continue running indefinitely. This is true for two reasons: 1) Building an extremely lightweight, ad free interface has a happy byproduct of ... being extremely lightweight. The infrastructure requirements for even a wildly popular "Oh By" are trivial. 2) Because Oh By is self-funded, there is no pressure from outside parties to break the pattern of an ad free, tracking free service with zero bloat. If you're having trouble swallowing this, remember that rsync.net has been running continuously since 2001[1]. I think that's a credible track record[2]. [1] As a feature of JohnCompanies, the first VPS provider, and then as a standalone corporation in 2006. [2] In fact, the rsync.net warrant canary turns 10 years old this year.