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The fact that for however many years TinyURL served a niche purpose hiding goatse links somehow means the recent explosion in the use of these services is posit

The fact that for however many years TinyURL served a niche purpose hiding goatse links somehow means the recent explosion in the use of these services is positive for the web? And: what good is a shortened link to a dead site?

ubernostrum 17y ago
"And: what good is a shortened link to a dead site?" About as much good as an un-shortened link to a dead site, which is what it turns into after the redirect. I guess my problem here is I still haven't seen an actual argument to back up the sorts of "behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Digg, and Twitter followed with him" hysteria that's been going around. Yeah, sometimes links die of old age; we've been dealing with that for years and it's not a new or unique problem. And yeah, sometimes people hide nasty things behind redirects; again, we've been dealing with that for years and it's not a new or unique problem. So what's with the gloom and doom?
- calambrac 17y ago
  About as much good as an un-shortened link to a dead site, which is what it turns into after the redirect. That's exactly my point; you were the one who pointed to TinyURL outlasting some of the sites it stores links to as though that were a good thing. Yeah, sometimes links die of old age; we've been dealing with that for years and it's not a new or unique problem. Yes, but this introduces another failure mode, where the end target could be fine, but it could be the shortener service that dies. That sure is awesome if it's your content being linked, and you have no way to fix it, huh? At least with regular links, if a link goes dead, it was your own fault, and you can fix it if you want. And yeah, sometimes people hide nasty things behind redirects So why would you want to create more opportunities for this to happen? We've been dealing with that for years and it's not a new or unique problem But not on the scale that we're starting to see now. You seem to be operating on the premise that things we've seen used in moderation without too much trouble are automatically safe for heavy use, but the Digg thing shows how ripe for abuse these services really are.

ubernostrum 17y ago

"And: what good is a shortened link to a dead site?" About as much good as an un-shortened link to a dead site, which is what it turns into after the redirect. I guess my problem here is I still haven't seen an actual argument to back up the sorts of "behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Digg, and Twitter followed with him" hysteria that's been going around. Yeah, sometimes links die of old age; we've been dealing with that for years and it's not a new or unique problem. And yeah, sometimes people hide nasty things behind redirects; again, we've been dealing with that for years and it's not a new or unique problem. So what's with the gloom and doom?

calambrac 17y ago
About as much good as an un-shortened link to a dead site, which is what it turns into after the redirect. That's exactly my point; you were the one who pointed to TinyURL outlasting some of the sites it stores links to as though that were a good thing. Yeah, sometimes links die of old age; we've been dealing with that for years and it's not a new or unique problem. Yes, but this introduces another failure mode, where the end target could be fine, but it could be the shortener service that dies. That sure is awesome if it's your content being linked, and you have no way to fix it, huh? At least with regular links, if a link goes dead, it was your own fault, and you can fix it if you want. And yeah, sometimes people hide nasty things behind redirects So why would you want to create more opportunities for this to happen? We've been dealing with that for years and it's not a new or unique problem But not on the scale that we're starting to see now. You seem to be operating on the premise that things we've seen used in moderation without too much trouble are automatically safe for heavy use, but the Digg thing shows how ripe for abuse these services really are.