FediTips has moved!Feb 9, 2022

You don't need to use link shorteners on Mastodon. All links count as 23 characters no matter how long they really are.

Also, links on Mastodon stay in the form you wrote them. This is much better for privacy than Twitter.

Twitter quietly changes all posted links to go via Twitter's domain t.co so they can track people. This doesn't happen on Mastodon or the Fediverse.

You can see this hidden conversion in Twitter by hovering your mouse over a link there, the link appears to show a normal address but Firefox and other browsers will indicate the true t.co address in the bottom left corner of the screen. If you try this same check on Mastodon or the Fediverse, you will see your links stay just as you wrote them.

#MastoTips #FediTips #Mastodon #Fediverse #Privacy #Twitter #LinkShorteners

Show thread@stephenshielsFeb 10, 2022
@feditips what is a link shortener?.
Show threadFrost [moved]Apr 2, 2022

@shiels @feditips It's a thing like bit.ly where you take a link, put it in the link shortener, and get back a small link on the shortener's site (like "bit.ly/wharbl" (made up)) that redirects to your link.

I don't know why people use them all the time, it makes it impossible to see the original URL AND lets the shortener service track everyone who clicks on the link.

Show thread@stephenshielsApr 2, 2022
@IceWolf @feditips I have seen people complaining because of link shorteners. #linksteuer #linktax #linksteuer #Linksfraktion
Show threadFediTips has moved!Apr 2, 2022

@shiels @IceWolf

That's why you don't need them on Mastodon 👍

Show thread@stephenshiels
@feditips @IceWolf I have never bothered with link shorteners it is to much work. #linktax #linkcosplay #linklog #linkle #linksteuer #linkestablished #linkchecker #linkestablished #linkedinjobsearch #linkebpt #linkerscript
Apr 3, 2022 at 10:16amWeb