Comments on: Are URL Shorteners Bad?

By: Aryeh Goretsky

Aryeh Goretsky — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 07:03:47 +0000

Hello,

I do not think URL shorteners are bad per se, however, they do have the effect of directing you through a a third-party site. In the event that a URL redirecting site goes under, what is to stop a malicious organization from purchasing the domain and, say, redirecting all the orphaned links to spam or malware? There are trust issues involved with using a URL shortening service.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

By: Faisal Humayun

Faisal Humayun — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:11:55 +0000

The recent tr.im debacle, and this interview with Eric Woodward at techZING! regarding the whole matter http://tr.im/wj1i
is a great spring board to understanding this concern further.

By: Colby

Colby — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:31:48 +0000

i think that their good as long as their not used for distributing viruses….

By: Chad

Chad — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:45:47 +0000

One thing that always irked me about them is that the links lose their context when shortened… are the links good? bad? lame? awesome? That’s why I built my own at http://fnla.me and http://fnaweso.me . Now the links I shorten have a little more meaning!

By: BillyBuff

BillyBuff — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:31:55 +0000

I’m least likely to click on a shortened URL….why? Because it doesn’t show the true URL and it might lead to a malicious site.

By: Hotrao

Hotrao — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:57:59 +0000

On a “marketing” and promotional point of view url shorteners are a good tool.

In my opinion, on the other side, they could be a possible threat to average internet user, because url shortening could disguise a redirecting activity that is not easily detectable.

By: bromberg

bromberg — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:32:53 +0000

Yes indeed: Buyer Beware! I lost a bunch of shortened URLs on the now-defunct SHURL website. Those SOBs didn’t have the decency to post a count-down warning. Poof! From one day to the next they were all gone.

By: Silicon Tokyo Shortener ~ Windows Fanatics

Silicon Tokyo Shortener ~ Windows Fanatics — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:20:12 +0000

[...] URL shorteners a good [...]

By: Barry Karas

Barry Karas — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:39:23 +0000

08-14-2009

Why shorten URLs when the actual URLs can be favorites or bookmarks?

By: David Plimbley

David Plimbley — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:45:15 +0000

I think they are a very good idea! but they are very popular for hackers redireting you to 5-6 different sites for financial gain and control over your computer. but then again if you have a program thats hows you what they are sending you to (i cant remeber mine) but the general idea of url shorteners is innocent