Boy oh boy... Its 2025 but I sure am seeing a lot of #URLShortener links here.
A lot of people refuse to click shortened links.
Why?
Because most link shortening services are commercial. They are not free. You pay in data.
They can also be misused, captured and redirected.
The good news is, you don't need them on the #fedi! Put any URL of any length in your post and it will count as 23* characters - no shortener required!
*edited from 25 to 23 as per documentation.
@sstrader
AMEN to this!
If you must share a link to a resource on youtube, facebook, instagram etc, you can (and SHOULD) delete the tracking info included in the URL.
Recently this is often found as a parameter called "si".
For example:
https://youtu.be/K0QeSpu26wM?si=naCfyNJIwSv7qghj
Remove everything from "si" onward:
@sb It would be even better if Mastodon's web UI had an option not to short links either.
I mean, visually, literally, it obscures part of the URL and adds "..." if it is long enough. It might not help promoting the idea that it's ok to just put non-cryptic URLs without shortening them first, but it sure annoys me.
And at least here that also makes it harder to select the address to paste it somewhere else, if it's at the end of the post.
not only these critical points, but also, in the age of phishing, people need to be able to see where they are going to go before they click on links
personally i think link-shortener and link-tracking tech is antithetical to the fediverse and should be called out more than people not CW'ing things
i refuse to boost things that use link-shorteners, especially ones owned by other social media giants like twitter
@sb yes, archiveteam have enough work to do without using more of these stupid shorteners.
sb arms & legs
Lloyd Lemons
Sonikku
MarkAssPandi
Dianora (Diane Bruce)
Raptor 
Scott D. Strader 😐
a fish named dog ✡️♾️
Arthur van der Harg
Semitones
Anopka
njsg
pr06lefs
Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣
yawnbox
Nik | Klampfradler 🎸🚲
Patrick Grey
Chewie