6 ms·

Ah, the digital naiveté of the nineties. Nowadays, cool URLS get changed on purpose so you have to enter the platform through the front instead of bouncing off

by osobo 5y ago

Ah, the digital naiveté of the nineties. Nowadays, cool URLS get changed on purpose so you have to enter the platform through the front instead of bouncing off your destination.

gary_0 5y ago
And they get loaded down with query string fields for analytics. I kill those with https://github.com/ClearURLs/Addon https://github.com/ClearURLs/Addon
- toastal 5y ago
  I keep checking to see when this add-on will get approved to Firefox Android's anointed list
  - pwdisswordfish8 5y ago
    Good thing I still keep the version pinned at 68!
  - ronyclau 5y ago
    If you are using Firefox Nightly, you can install arbitrary add-ons (though quite a number of them don't work due to UI difference, container doesn't work too) now after going though some steps: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio...
- BeFlatXIII 5y ago
  I wonder if there is a similar extension that leaves in the UTM parameters but fills them with curse words and other sophomoric junk data.
  - jraph 5y ago
    Good idea, but risky if not done right or not adopted by many people. You'd be increasing your specificity and therefore the ability to track you.
    - BeFlatXIII 5y ago
      Good point. If you’re the only user with utm_origin=boogers&utm_medium=poop, it’ll be trivial to connect you between websites. It’s all automated, so there’s slim to no chance of making a server admin chuckle while checking the logs, unfortunately.
- TremendousJudge 5y ago
  What's happening with this project? The rules repo hasn't been updated for months even with several PRs
jaimex2 5y ago
Fantastic way to lose your traffic though. Someone follows a link, gets a 404 or main page and they're gone.
- bojan 5y ago
  It's not traffic they are after, but monetization. The traffic that does not monetize only costs money.
  - ninkendo 5y ago
    Sigh. I remember when people used to put up websites for fun.
chrisweekly 5y ago
Characterizing TBL as naive is absurd. He was right. And the URLs you describe are anything but cool.
- jimlikeslimes 5y ago
  I'm fairly sure the parent was joking and in full agreement with you. Just so this isn't a point out the joke post, a few years ago I saw a HN post from a bunch of people who used print to PDF, and pdfgrep as a bookmarking solution. It doesn't solve the original problem, but it does act a a coping strategy for when content goes missing. I've been using it for a good while now and it's been real useful already.
slver 5y ago
I'm not aware of anyone doing this on purpose. It's bad for bookmarks, it's bad for SEO, bad for internal linking, and external linking. URLs change because systems change.
- gruffusgruffus 5y ago
  A proposed solution to this: https://jeffhuang.com/designed_to_last/ https://jeffhuang.com/designed_to_last/
npteljes 5y ago
Up there with the Netiquette. I'd love a timeline where this matters, but this ship has sailed long, long ago.

by osobo 5y ago

Ah, the digital naiveté of the nineties. Nowadays, cool URLS get changed on purpose so you have to enter the platform through the front instead of bouncing off your destination.

gary_0 5y ago

And they get loaded down with query string fields for analytics. I kill those with https://github.com/ClearURLs/Addon https://github.com/ClearURLs/Addon

toastal 5y ago
I keep checking to see when this add-on will get approved to Firefox Android's anointed list
- pwdisswordfish8 5y ago
  Good thing I still keep the version pinned at 68!
- ronyclau 5y ago
  If you are using Firefox Nightly, you can install arbitrary add-ons (though quite a number of them don't work due to UI difference, container doesn't work too) now after going though some steps: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extension-support-in-firefox-for-android-nightly/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio...
BeFlatXIII 5y ago
I wonder if there is a similar extension that leaves in the UTM parameters but fills them with curse words and other sophomoric junk data.
- jraph 5y ago
  Good idea, but risky if not done right or not adopted by many people. You'd be increasing your specificity and therefore the ability to track you.
  - BeFlatXIII 5y ago
    Good point. If you’re the only user with utm_origin=boogers&utm_medium=poop, it’ll be trivial to connect you between websites. It’s all automated, so there’s slim to no chance of making a server admin chuckle while checking the logs, unfortunately.
TremendousJudge 5y ago
What's happening with this project? The rules repo hasn't been updated for months even with several PRs

jaimex2 5y ago

Fantastic way to lose your traffic though. Someone follows a link, gets a 404 or main page and they're gone.

bojan 5y ago
It's not traffic they are after, but monetization. The traffic that does not monetize only costs money.
- ninkendo 5y ago
  Sigh. I remember when people used to put up websites for fun.

chrisweekly 5y ago

Characterizing TBL as naive is absurd. He was right. And the URLs you describe are anything but cool.

jimlikeslimes 5y ago
I'm fairly sure the parent was joking and in full agreement with you. Just so this isn't a point out the joke post, a few years ago I saw a HN post from a bunch of people who used print to PDF, and pdfgrep as a bookmarking solution. It doesn't solve the original problem, but it does act a a coping strategy for when content goes missing. I've been using it for a good while now and it's been real useful already.

slver 5y ago

I'm not aware of anyone doing this on purpose. It's bad for bookmarks, it's bad for SEO, bad for internal linking, and external linking. URLs change because systems change.

gruffusgruffus 5y ago
A proposed solution to this: https://jeffhuang.com/designed_to_last/ https://jeffhuang.com/designed_to_last/

npteljes 5y ago

Up there with the Netiquette. I'd love a timeline where this matters, but this ship has sailed long, long ago.