His argument doesn't make sense to me. Consider the uses he gives for the shortened URL: * Presentations * Email * IM and Twitter Given these use cases,

His argument doesn't make sense to me. Consider the uses he gives for the shortened URL: * Presentations * Email * IM and Twitter Given these use cases, what, exactly, is the utility of retaining the longer URL? If every time you reference the location it's through the short URL, then the advantages of the longer URL (comprehensibility, mainly) are lost -- because nobody will ever look at it! It seems like the only reason to do this is to maintain compatibility with systems which impose a particular URL scheme. The post is a good argument for making shorter URLs in general, not a good argument for a personal and application-specific URL shortener.