Fedi.TipsJul 28, 2025

You probably should not use link shorteners, here's why:

- All links on Mastodon count as 23 characters no matter how long they really are. There is no need to shorten links on Mastodon, it won't save you any space.

- Link shorteners endanger privacy by allowing click tracking, and by hiding what is actually being clicked.

- Shortener providers will shut down, breaking all their links. e.g. Google's shortened links will all show 404 errors from September: https://chaos.social/@root42/114929876895398208

#FediTips

root42 (@[email protected])

Another reminder that you should never ever use link shorteners: https://www.heise.de/en/news/Google-s-URL-shortener-goo-gl-will-only-show-404-errors-from-the-end-of-August-10501127.html

chaos.social
Show threadFedi.TipsJul 28, 2025

p.s. Just to make this extra clear, by "link shortener" I mean services like bit.ly etc which replace your link with a totally different link via their service.

I do not mean manually shortening links by removing trackers. It's totally 100% fine to manually shorten links to remove trackers, people should do that, and that's not what I'm posting about.

Show threadS★m V★rm★Jul 28, 2025
@FediTips So I noticed that when I share links to mastodon from the iOS share sheet, the tracker (text after the ? If I'm understanding this correctly) indicates that it's coming from activity pub. I'd like to promote the 'Verse, so is that letting web admins know that traffic is coming from here? Any pros/cons?
Show threadFedi.Tips

@samvarma

I hadn't noticed trackers like that? When I've tried sharing with iOS it just gives me a plain link?

However, "ActivityPub" is indeed the technical name for the protocol used by Mastodon and the wider Fediverse.

Jul 28, 2025 at 4:38pmWeb
Show threadS★m V★rm★Jul 29, 2025
@FediTips Not every site does it, but here's what I'm seeing. Wonder if it's flipboard adding that?
Show threadCiencia Al PoderJul 29, 2025
@samvarma
utm_ URL parameters are typically used by Google trackers. I'm pretty sure they're added by the site you're clicking the share button. @FediTips
Show threadS★m V★rm★Jul 29, 2025

@ciencia @FediTips Aha. So

IF fuck=google
THEN remove everything after the ?, even if it says activitypub?

Show threadFedi.TipsJul 29, 2025

@samvarma @ciencia

It depends on whether you want a data broker to potentially know you found that link on a particular kind of site.

If you want maximum privacy, remove ?UTM and everything after it.

Show threadS★m V★rm★Jul 29, 2025
@FediTips @ciencia I just want what's beneficial for mastodon, but I think all of us here would prefer privacy
Show threadFedi.TipsJul 29, 2025

@samvarma

Ahhh okay, I thought you meant the other way round (from a Mastodon app to elsewhere).

Yeah, a lot of websites do have extensions that let them track where a link is. Especially commercial services.