FediTips has moved!Apr 16, 2023

You don't need to use link shorteners on Mastodon!

All links on Mastodon count as 23 characters towards your post limit, no matter how long the links actually are.

Link shortener services like bit.ly, t.co etc track users who click on their links. This is really bad for privacy. If you use link shorteners on Mastodon, people may assume you are just doing it for tracking purposes.

More info at https://fedi.tips/you-dont-need-link-shorteners-on-mastodon

You don’t need link shorteners on Mastodon | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

Show threadeagerpebbleApr 16, 2023
@feditips There are many reasons to use link shorteners besides tracking. Some people use software that can post to multiple social profiles, some of which may not treat links the way Mastodon does. Others may need to provide a link frequently, and a short URL is easier to type and clearer about its purpose than the real URL (e.g. John Hodgman is notorious for making bit.ly links for everything, especially tickets for live shows). Please don't vilify people with generalizations.
Show threadekes

@eagerpebble @feditips

You've just listed cases of short-links being used, not legitimate reasons to do so. Besides it's a fact that analytics is the most common purpose for such links.

If you redirect in order to provide more descriptive or permanent links, then there is no reason to rely on tracking services with privacy-unfriendly terms of service.

But even then it remains a bad practice security-wise.

Apr 16, 2023 at 9:01pmWeb