4 ms·

Only tangentially related but what is up with the massive increase in URL length? Taking this one for example: h t t p s://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/201

Only tangentially related but what is up with the massive increase in URL length? Taking this one for example: h t t p s://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-19/americans-are-paying-38-to-collect-1-of-student-debt If you include the question mark query parameter separator, the tracking parts take up as many characters as the entire reference to the article itself: ?cmpid=BBD051917_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170519&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily Am I just being an old-man-get-off-my-lawn about this or is there an actual purpose?

droithomme 9y ago
I am on your side. This stuff annoys me as well and I've posted about it in the past to no effect. The trailing tracking garbage in urls should be algorithmically removed. If this results in a paywall access block, then posts with such domain names should be blocked. It is absolutely not reasonable to post links that lead to paywalls because that is clearly and by definition, spam. Posting a link in the hope that it will result in someone buying something is totally different from posting a link to something that is news or discussion worthy. Posting commercial links such as all paywalls are is fundamentally spamming and is reasonably removed, blocked, and the poster banned.
- mrout 9y ago
  I think some people just copy-and-paste links and don't bother to remove that stuff because they're so used to the cruft. Maybe that's naivety on my part.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
dnm 9y ago
Interestingly, I can't open the full link in incognito mode with uBlock Origin enabled. If I remove the tracking cruft, page loads fine.
mbesto 9y ago
> &utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170519&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily Those are urchin tags, aka Google Analytics: https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/ https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/
JumpCrisscross 9y ago
Sorry, my bad. Shall trim going forward. I consume most of my news through newsletters emailed to a separate email account. (Separate so (a) it's out of mind, (b) doesn't buzz my phone and (c) lets me enforce my rule around deleting any I haven't read by the end of the day.) Didn't realize my trackers were transmitting.
- techsupporter 9y ago
  Apologies in retrospect; I wasn't trying to come down on you. You posted the link you were given. My angst is aimed at the people who craft those links, either intentionally or programmatically.
  - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
    No offense taken! In fact, thank you. I generally browse through Tor. Sort of defeats part of the purpose behind that if I distribute unique referral tags :P.

droithomme 9y ago

I am on your side. This stuff annoys me as well and I've posted about it in the past to no effect. The trailing tracking garbage in urls should be algorithmically removed. If this results in a paywall access block, then posts with such domain names should be blocked. It is absolutely not reasonable to post links that lead to paywalls because that is clearly and by definition, spam. Posting a link in the hope that it will result in someone buying something is totally different from posting a link to something that is news or discussion worthy. Posting commercial links such as all paywalls are is fundamentally spamming and is reasonably removed, blocked, and the poster banned.

mrout 9y ago
I think some people just copy-and-paste links and don't bother to remove that stuff because they're so used to the cruft. Maybe that's naivety on my part.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

dnm 9y ago

Interestingly, I can't open the full link in incognito mode with uBlock Origin enabled. If I remove the tracking cruft, page loads fine.

mbesto 9y ago

> &utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170519&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily Those are urchin tags, aka Google Analytics: https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/ https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/

JumpCrisscross 9y ago

Sorry, my bad. Shall trim going forward. I consume most of my news through newsletters emailed to a separate email account. (Separate so (a) it's out of mind, (b) doesn't buzz my phone and (c) lets me enforce my rule around deleting any I haven't read by the end of the day.) Didn't realize my trackers were transmitting.

techsupporter 9y ago
Apologies in retrospect; I wasn't trying to come down on you. You posted the link you were given. My angst is aimed at the people who craft those links, either intentionally or programmatically.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  No offense taken! In fact, thank you. I generally browse through Tor. Sort of defeats part of the purpose behind that if I distribute unique referral tags :P.