5 ms·

I used to use something called UTM Mangler that would replace the referral links with shock sites. I felt that was much better than simply removing them. Here'

by f2n 8y ago

I used to use something called UTM Mangler that would replace the referral links with shock sites. I felt that was much better than simply removing them. Here's the github, it looks like the chrome extension linked in the README is no longer there: https://github.com/huntwelch/UTM-Mangler https://github.com/huntwelch/UTM-Mangler

madeofpalk 8y ago
Wow, what a horrible, shitting thing to do. I use Google Analytics for a side project site I run for the video game Destiny. I like to look at referral URLs so I can see if some publication has linked to me, if a video has been made about my site, or if there's a discussion on reddit going on that would be relevant. I know it's popular to think about the only entities using analytics are big faceless organisations and sending them to graphic porn websites is cool, but please remember that a) they're still just humans and b) people run cute little side projects like mine and I don't want to see tubgirl or whatever when going through my referrals. Block GA, strip referrals, whatever. I don't care. Just please don't abuse people like this.
- politician 8y ago
  (As I asked in the other peer comment, but am curious about your reaction as well) Would it change your mind if the OP were doing it as a form of guerrilla advertising for those sites?
  - madeofpalk 8y ago
    Okay so sending graphic/abusive porn in place of referrer tags to every website you visit is just such a disgusting, fucked up thing to do. Like, if you do this you're objectively a bad person. If you're doing "guerrilla advertising for those sites" - I just think you're a wanker. It's ineffective and silly.
    - harry-wood 8y ago
      Not "every website you visit". Every website you visit where the developers chosen to use messy URLs for tracking.
      - adjkant 8y ago
        Okay I don't think either of these are really that bad but in no world can you justify a bad action by saying "they made URL's ugly". No.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
- monochromatic 8y ago
  You're not concerned about my rights. Why should I be concerned about yours? Seriously--if you're abusing my privacy by tracking me without my consent (without my ACTUAL consent), what makes you think you have any moral claim whatsoever over me?
  - jenscow 8y ago
    Two wrongs don't make a right. You really don't want to be sending offensive material out to people. you don't know who the recipient could be. The chances are it's just their job, and the decision to track you wasn't theirs.
    - sincerely 8y ago
      Remember how we, as a society, pretty much unanimously decided "it's just their job" wasn't a valid excuse...about half a century ago ?
      - platinumrad 8y ago
        There's a fairly big difference in severity between web tracking and the Holocaust.
        sincerely 8y ago
        Obviously, but that doesn't change the validity of the argument
        platinumrad 8y ago
        The point is that "just doing your job" when your job is web advertising does not warrant a (psychologically) violent response while "just doing your job' when your job is the Holocaust does warrant a violent response.
    - ionised 8y ago
      Why is that our problem?
- matheusmoreira 8y ago
  The fact of the matter is these referral links are sent to you by the user agent. As the name implies, that program is entirely under the control of the user. Just because the browser makes HTTP requests automatically when loading pages doesn't mean someone can't craft a custom HTTP request with completely made up metadata and send it to your servers. It's not really any different from random people sending you random links over a messaging service. Would you click on any "interesting" links sent to you by people you don't know, much less trust? It's the same thing. Offensive websites might have shock value but they're actually quite harmless after you close the tab. What if it's a malware site that exploits some 0day in your browser?
portugee 8y ago
I don't see how deliberately providing false data to organization is amusing here. If you don't want your web sessions tracked that's fine, but there are legitimate reasons for websites to want to understand user behavior. Some of it is for digital marketing purposes but also for usability, for example, how are folks getting to our documentation, is this prominent enough? Seems a popular opinion that user tracking = bad but it's more nuanced than that.
- politician 8y ago
  Would it change your mind if the OP were doing it as a form of guerrilla advertising for those sites?
  - portugee 8y ago
    No. It's still deliberately injecting misleading data.
    - politician 8y ago
      That's how a lot of people feel about the current state of advertising on the web.
    - colemickens 8y ago
      So what? Is "portugee" your real name? I have no obligation or contract that I will "not modify URL parameters".
      - colemickens 8y ago
        Cool that no one responded and I just got downvoted. Let me just say I openly laugh at anyone that thinks I have some implicit responsiblity or obligation to not modify the URL of a website I'm visiting. Actual laughter that someone would get indignant about that. edit: And somehow this is auto-downvoted within 30 seconds? This website is so fantastic!
- nfoz 8y ago
gk1 8y ago
> Want to mess with SEO people and those marketers trying to optimize another fucking branding tweet? Me too. Why? If you found the link interesting enough to click, why worry about it getting logged?
beager 8y ago
> I felt [sending marketers to shock sites] was much better than simply removing [UTM tags]. I can understand wanting to tailor your own online experience for speed or privacy. But this is petty, ugly, and vindictive.
- monochromatic 8y ago
  And hilarious. And justified.
tzahola 8y ago
Haha! Nice. We should turn this into an addon that automatically mangles every URL.
harry-wood 8y ago
To add some contrast to this discussion, let me say that I think it looks quite neat :-) I see some folks here are quite shocked by it. Maybe using these shock site URLs (https://github.com/huntwelch/UTM-Mangler/blob/master/utm-mangler.js#L9 https://github.com/huntwelch/UTM-Mangler/blob/master/utm-man... ) is a bit over the top. I was casually musing about such an idea myself a while back: https://twitter.com/harry_wood/status/735048026335682561 https://twitter.com/harry_wood/status/735048026335682561 . This offers a way to more actively fight back against the over-use of messy UTM URLs. Perhaps a gentler thing to do would be to link to a place/places which re-educate web developers on how to design URLs. (It seems there's a few folk round here who need some re-education on this matter!)

by f2n 8y ago

madeofpalk 8y ago

Wow, what a horrible, shitting thing to do. I use Google Analytics for a side project site I run for the video game Destiny. I like to look at referral URLs so I can see if some publication has linked to me, if a video has been made about my site, or if there's a discussion on reddit going on that would be relevant. I know it's popular to think about the only entities using analytics are big faceless organisations and sending them to graphic porn websites is cool, but please remember that a) they're still just humans and b) people run cute little side projects like mine and I don't want to see tubgirl or whatever when going through my referrals. Block GA, strip referrals, whatever. I don't care. Just please don't abuse people like this.

politician 8y ago
(As I asked in the other peer comment, but am curious about your reaction as well) Would it change your mind if the OP were doing it as a form of guerrilla advertising for those sites?
- madeofpalk 8y ago
  Okay so sending graphic/abusive porn in place of referrer tags to every website you visit is just such a disgusting, fucked up thing to do. Like, if you do this you're objectively a bad person. If you're doing "guerrilla advertising for those sites" - I just think you're a wanker. It's ineffective and silly.
  - harry-wood 8y ago
    Not "every website you visit". Every website you visit where the developers chosen to use messy URLs for tracking.
    - adjkant 8y ago
      Okay I don't think either of these are really that bad but in no world can you justify a bad action by saying "they made URL's ugly". No.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
monochromatic 8y ago
You're not concerned about my rights. Why should I be concerned about yours? Seriously--if you're abusing my privacy by tracking me without my consent (without my ACTUAL consent), what makes you think you have any moral claim whatsoever over me?
- jenscow 8y ago
  Two wrongs don't make a right. You really don't want to be sending offensive material out to people. you don't know who the recipient could be. The chances are it's just their job, and the decision to track you wasn't theirs.
  - sincerely 8y ago
    Remember how we, as a society, pretty much unanimously decided "it's just their job" wasn't a valid excuse...about half a century ago ?
    - platinumrad 8y ago
      There's a fairly big difference in severity between web tracking and the Holocaust.
      - sincerely 8y ago
        Obviously, but that doesn't change the validity of the argument
        platinumrad 8y ago
        The point is that "just doing your job" when your job is web advertising does not warrant a (psychologically) violent response while "just doing your job' when your job is the Holocaust does warrant a violent response.
  - ionised 8y ago
    Why is that our problem?
matheusmoreira 8y ago
The fact of the matter is these referral links are sent to you by the user agent. As the name implies, that program is entirely under the control of the user. Just because the browser makes HTTP requests automatically when loading pages doesn't mean someone can't craft a custom HTTP request with completely made up metadata and send it to your servers. It's not really any different from random people sending you random links over a messaging service. Would you click on any "interesting" links sent to you by people you don't know, much less trust? It's the same thing. Offensive websites might have shock value but they're actually quite harmless after you close the tab. What if it's a malware site that exploits some 0day in your browser?

portugee 8y ago

I don't see how deliberately providing false data to organization is amusing here. If you don't want your web sessions tracked that's fine, but there are legitimate reasons for websites to want to understand user behavior. Some of it is for digital marketing purposes but also for usability, for example, how are folks getting to our documentation, is this prominent enough? Seems a popular opinion that user tracking = bad but it's more nuanced than that.

politician 8y ago
Would it change your mind if the OP were doing it as a form of guerrilla advertising for those sites?
- portugee 8y ago
  No. It's still deliberately injecting misleading data.
  - politician 8y ago
    That's how a lot of people feel about the current state of advertising on the web.
  - colemickens 8y ago
    So what? Is "portugee" your real name? I have no obligation or contract that I will "not modify URL parameters".
    - colemickens 8y ago
      Cool that no one responded and I just got downvoted. Let me just say I openly laugh at anyone that thinks I have some implicit responsiblity or obligation to not modify the URL of a website I'm visiting. Actual laughter that someone would get indignant about that. edit: And somehow this is auto-downvoted within 30 seconds? This website is so fantastic!
nfoz 8y ago

gk1 8y ago

> Want to mess with SEO people and those marketers trying to optimize another fucking branding tweet? Me too. Why? If you found the link interesting enough to click, why worry about it getting logged?

beager 8y ago

> I felt [sending marketers to shock sites] was much better than simply removing [UTM tags]. I can understand wanting to tailor your own online experience for speed or privacy. But this is petty, ugly, and vindictive.

monochromatic 8y ago
And hilarious. And justified.

tzahola 8y ago

Haha! Nice. We should turn this into an addon that automatically mangles every URL.

harry-wood 8y ago

To add some contrast to this discussion, let me say that I think it looks quite neat :-) I see some folks here are quite shocked by it. Maybe using these shock site URLs (https://github.com/huntwelch/UTM-Mangler/blob/master/utm-mangler.js#L9 https://github.com/huntwelch/UTM-Mangler/blob/master/utm-man... ) is a bit over the top. I was casually musing about such an idea myself a while back: https://twitter.com/harry_wood/status/735048026335682561 https://twitter.com/harry_wood/status/735048026335682561 . This offers a way to more actively fight back against the over-use of messy UTM URLs. Perhaps a gentler thing to do would be to link to a place/places which re-educate web developers on how to design URLs. (It seems there's a few folk round here who need some re-education on this matter!)