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ResearchBuzz: Firehose<p>How-To Geek: These 7 Free Tools Can Help You Avoid Malicious Links to Stay Safe. “How safe is this URL? That’s the question you should be asking before clicking on random links. A friend of mine on X shared how she learned this lesson the hard way after getting locked out of her Snapchat account. Don’t make the same mistake. Here are seven of the best free URL checkers that’ll help protect […]</p><p><a href="https://rbfirehose.com/2025/07/23/how-to-geek-these-7-free-tools-can-help-you-avoid-malicious-links-to-stay-safe/" class="" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://rbfirehose.com/2025/07/23/how-to-geek-these-7-free-tools-can-help-you-avoid-malicious-links-to-stay-safe/</a></p>
screwlisp<p><a href="https://me.dm/tags/computerScience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>computerScience</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/programming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>programming</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/engineering" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>engineering</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/history" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>history</span></a> <a href="https://screwlisp.small-web.org/show/urgent-kent-pitman-interview/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">screwlisp.small-web.org/show/u</span><span class="invisible">rgent-kent-pitman-interview/</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/urgent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>urgent</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/boost" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>boost</span></a> <br>See the page - Interviewing <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://climatejustice.social/@kentpitman" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>kentpitman</span></a></span> Live in less than 23 hours about his writing of the CREF editor tagging/hyperlinking/answer-generating (kind of) in the 80s. Links to Kent's thread on the page.</p><p>The SDF Mastodon is down can cannot be expected to recover before the show. PLEASE boost this one for visibility, and Kent's thread (and add questions/comments to address there).</p><p><a href="https://me.dm/tags/emacs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>emacs</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/zwei" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>zwei</span></a></p>
screwlisp<p><a href="https://me.dm/tags/lispyGopherClimate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>lispyGopherClimate</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/archive" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>archive</span></a>! show mastodon is down/please <a href="https://me.dm/tags/boost" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>boost</span></a> if you see this so people see this/ <br><a href="https://communitymedia.video/w/kTjUgHSYCZsJwucUPVoLgx" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">communitymedia.video/w/kTjUgHS</span><span class="invisible">YCZsJwucUPVoLgx</span></a><br><a href="https://me.dm/tags/climateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>climateCrisis</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/haiku" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>haiku</span></a> from <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://climatejustice.social/@kentpitman" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>kentpitman</span></a></span> as always!</p><p><a href="https://me.dm/tags/smallnet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>smallnet</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/smallweb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>smallweb</span></a> episode feat. <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>aral</span></a></span> of <a href="https://small-web.org/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">small-web.org/</span><span class="invisible"></span></a> and <a href="https://me.dm/tags/Kitten" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Kitten</span></a>. <br>due to a timezone mixup, Aral is a recording. I have no idea what he has recorded.</p><p>First in a string of guest interviews. </p><p>We were planning to talk about the attacks on <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://social.anoxinon.de/@Codeberg" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>Codeberg</span></a></span> and <a href="https://me.dm/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> I think</p><p><a href="https://me.dm/tags/openbsd" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>openbsd</span></a> release <a href="https://me.dm/tags/Eev" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Eev</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/emacs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>emacs</span></a> <a href="https://me.dm/tags/lisp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>lisp</span></a></p>
Richard W. Woodley ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦🌹🚴‍♂️📷 🗺️<p>I use <a href="https://mstdn.ca/tags/hashtags" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hashtags</span></a> within the text because I think of them the same way I think of (the original idea of) <a href="https://mstdn.ca/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a>.</p>
Chris C<p>Outlook Default Browser.<br>By default, any links you open from an Outlook email will be opened in Microsoft Edge, even if you have a different browser set as your default browser in Windows.<br>Here is how you can change the default browser for any links you open in Outlook.<br>And this is using the most recent version of Outlook.<br>1. After opening Outlook, Hit Alt F to open the file menu.<br>2. Arrow up and press enter on Options.<br>3. Press the letter A until you hear Advanced.<br>4. Tab about 7 times until you hear, Open hyperlinks from Outlook in combo box.<br>5. Microsoft Edge should be the one listed. Arrow down until you hear default browser and press enter.<br>6. Now whatever browser you have listed as your default browser in Windows will be used to open hyperlinks from Outlook emails.<br>7. It is quicker to shift tab until you get to the OK button, then press it to close the window.</p><p><a href="https://dragonscave.space/tags/Outlook" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Outlook</span></a> <a href="https://dragonscave.space/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://dragonscave.space/tags/Default" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Default</span></a> <a href="https://dragonscave.space/tags/Browser" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Browser</span></a> <a href="https://dragonscave.space/tags/Settings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Settings</span></a></p>
Philipp Lunch<p>When hyperlinks become poetry. </p><p><a href="https://urlpoetry.club/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">urlpoetry.club/</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p><a href="https://social.anoxinon.de/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://social.anoxinon.de/tags/poetry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>poetry</span></a> <a href="https://social.anoxinon.de/tags/IndieWeb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IndieWeb</span></a></p>
Brent Sleeper<p>The <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> are the point: the <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/NYT" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NYT</span></a> <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/Editorial" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Editorial</span></a> Board lets the paper’s news reporting convey why <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> is dangerous, corrupt, and unfit for <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/Election2024" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Election2024</span></a>. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/02/opinion/vote-harris-2024-election.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/interactive/2024/1</span><span class="invisible">1/02/opinion/vote-harris-2024-election.html</span></a></p>
Stefan Bohacek<p>"If you degrade hyperlinks, and you degrade this idea of the internet as something that refers you to other things, you instead have this stationary internet where a generative AI agent will hoover up and summarize all the information that's out there, and place it right in front of you so that you never have to leave the portal."</p><p><a href="https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/beyond-the-link-tax-journalism-and-the-changing-nature-of-the-internet/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">halifaxexaminer.ca/beyond-the-</span><span class="invisible">link-tax-journalism-and-the-changing-nature-of-the-internet/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/internet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>internet</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/TheWeb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TheWeb</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://stefanbohacek.online/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AI</span></a></p>
Dr. Stefan T. Siegel<p>From Hieroglyphs to <a href="https://bildung.social/tags/Hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hyperlinks</span></a>: Why <a href="https://bildung.social/tags/Knowledge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Knowledge</span></a> <a href="https://bildung.social/tags/Management" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Management</span></a> Is as Old as Time and Not a New Phenomenon</p><p>Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) is often portrayed and perceived as a modern phenomenon, especially in the context of the so-called <a href="https://bildung.social/tags/digitalage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>digitalage</span></a> and the <a href="https://bildung.social/tags/informationage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>informationage</span></a>. However, the roots of PKM are ancient, extending back to the earliest forms of human communication and record-keeping. </p><p>📚 Full blog post: <a href="https://notelab.hypotheses.org/1645" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">notelab.hypotheses.org/1645</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p>Cc <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://higher-edu.social/@davidlohner" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>davidlohner</span></a></span> <a href="https://bildung.social/tags/notelab" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>notelab</span></a> <a href="https://bildung.social/tags/notemaking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>notemaking</span></a> <a href="https://bildung.social/tags/highereducation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>highereducation</span></a></p>
Montag<p><b>Quellenangaben und Links</b></p><p>Mal an alle Aktivisten und sonstige Menschen im <a href="https://friendica.xyz/search?tag=Fediverse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Fediverse</span></a> die Neuigkeiten, Nachrichten usw. verbreiten. Das Internet über das wir hier kommunizieren wird durch etwas zusammengehalten was sich HTML nennt, Hypertext Markup Language ausgeschrieben. In diesem HTML kann sogenannte <i>"LInks"</i> gesetzt werden. Das sind anklickbare Verweise auf andere Seiten. Wenn Ihr also Euren Kontakten und dem restlichen Fediverse einen interessanten Artikel, ein interessantes Wissenschaftliches Diagramm oder ähnliches Mitteilen wollt, macht keinen verdammten <i>Screenshot</i> und teilt den, sondern setzt einen <b>Link</b> zu dem Artikel, zu der Grafik oder Diagramm. Dann können sich interessierte nämlich den gesamten Artikel durchlesen und sind nicht nur auf den Teaser im Screenshot angewiesen!</p><p>Ein Screenshot eines Artikels/Grafik/Diagramm ohne Quellenangabe (Link) ist Irrelevant, im schlimmsten Fall gefälscht, kann also Weg und sollte ignoriert werden.</p><p> Und hier ist der Link zum Artikel: <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/auto/bundesverwaltungsgericht-warum-der-autogerechten-stadt-der-totalschaden-droht-a-dccee3e1-e862-4f3d-a374-57c261794ef0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">spiegel.de/auto/bundesverwaltu…</a></p><p>Ja, ich weiß, ich wiederhole mich. Aber mich nervt es wirklich, dauernd Screenshots von interessanten Artikeln in meiner Timeline zu finden bei denen es keinen Link zum Artikel gibt. Das ist doch nicht so schwer, wenn man den Screenshot macht, befindet man sich doch schon auf der richtigen Seite und kann ganz einfach auch den Link kopieren. Macht es einfach, ist ganz leicht.</p><p><a href="https://friendica.xyz/search?tag=rant" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>rant</span></a> <a href="https://friendica.xyz/search?tag=Quellenangabe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Quellenangabe</span></a> <a href="https://friendica.xyz/search?tag=Hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://friendica.xyz/search?tag=Screenshots" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Screenshots</span></a></p>
Merlin Mann<p><a href="https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/the-seventh-seal" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">criterionchannel.com/videos/th</span><span class="invisible">e-seventh-seal</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a></p>
IT News<p>Robotic Putting Greens. Mixed Reality. Loud Spectators. This Is Golf?! - Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are backing a new sports league that's reinventing golf as h... - <a href="https://www.wired.com/golf-tgl-tiger-woods/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">wired.com/golf-tgl-tiger-woods</span><span class="invisible">/</span></a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/backchannel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>backchannel</span></a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/culture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>culture</span></a>/tv <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://schleuss.online/tags/culture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>culture</span></a></p>
Inautilo<p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Development" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Development</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Techniques" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Techniques</span></a><br>Styling external links with attribute selectors · How to make users aware of website links that take them offsite <a href="https://ilo.im/15c61y" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">ilo.im/15c61y</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p>_____<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WebDev" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WebDev</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WebDesign" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WebDesign</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Website" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Website</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Frontend" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Frontend</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/CSS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CSS</span></a></p>
Inautilo<p><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Design" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Design</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Guidances" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Guidances</span></a><br>We need better hyperlink hygiene · Let’s try to avoid a disgusting web phenomenon: link rot <a href="https://ilo.im/157v6y" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">ilo.im/157v6y</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p>_____<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/InformationArchitecture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>InformationArchitecture</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/UxDesign" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>UxDesign</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WebDesign" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WebDesign</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Redesign" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Redesign</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Process" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Process</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Content" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Content</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Redirection" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Redirection</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/LinkRot" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LinkRot</span></a></p>
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴<p>Technische Frage zu <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hyperlinks</span></a> und den <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Mastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Mastodon</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Bookmarks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Bookmarks</span></a></p><p>Wenn man sich seine Bookmarks herunterlädt, dann sehen die i.d.R. so aus wie im Screenshot.</p><p>Damit fängt man jedoch außer, dass man weiß, von wem man den Post gespeichert hatte, nicht viel an.</p><p>Ich hatte mal vor Längerem ein Excel-Makro geschrieben, was die Adressen in aktive Hyperlinks umwandelt.</p><p>Wie wäre es möglich, dass man diese Liste wie bei einer Google-Ergebnissuche auch mit Preview auf die Seite bekommt?</p>
corbẏn<p>A fantastic look at the multimedia, hyperlink future of the internet as thought of in the 90s by Douglas Adams </p><p>This video has some really neat clips of interviews, historical footage, and this fun ethereal vibe of having intelligent, agent driven predictive access to any piece of information you'd ever need.</p><p>I wonder what Douglas Adams would think of the current Internet and Tech-Scape. <a href="https://mas.to/tags/douglasadams" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>douglasadams</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/multimedia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>multimedia</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/retrocomputing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>retrocomputing</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/90s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>90s</span></a> <a href="https://mas.to/tags/documentary" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>documentary</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAJPoc23-M" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">youtube.com/watch?v=1iAJPoc23-</span><span class="invisible">M</span></a></p>
Terence Eden<p>🆕 blog! “Never use a URL shortening service - even if you own it”</p><p>The Guardian launched its online adventures back in 1999. At some point, they started using the name "Guardian Unlimited". Hey, the dot com boom made us all do crazy things! As part of that branding, they proudly used the domain GU.com Over time, the branding faded and GU.…</p><p>👀 Read more: <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/never-use-a-url-shortening-service-even-if-you-own-it/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/never</span><span class="invisible">-use-a-url-shortening-service-even-if-you-own-it/</span></a><br>⸻<br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/guardian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>guardian</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/newspapers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>newspapers</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/url" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>url</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/web" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>web</span></a></p>
Terence Eden’s Blog<p><strong>Never use a URL shortening service - even if you own it</strong><br><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/never-use-a-url-shortening-service-even-if-you-own-it/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/never-use-a-url-shortening-service-even-if-you-own-it/</a></p><p>The Guardian launched its online adventures back in 1999. At some point, they started using the name "Guardian Unlimited". Hey, the dot com boom made us all do crazy things! As part of that branding, they proudly used the domain GU.com</p><p>Over time, the branding faded and GU.com became a URL shortening service. Tiny URls like <code>gu.com/abc</code> could be printed in papers, sent via SMS, or posted on Twitter. They made <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/help/insideguardian/2010/may/05/twitter-short-urls" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">a huge fanfare about how it would help with analytics</a>.</p><p>You can <a href="https://twitter.com/revdancatt/status/1572270482837196802" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">read some of the history of the shortner</a> to understand why it was created.</p><p>And now, for reasons best known to themselves, The Gaurdian have stopped the service and <a href="https://gu.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">put GU.com up for sale</a>.</p><p>The starting price is TWO AND HALF MILLION DOLLARS!</p><p>Look, if I had an asset that valuable and was looking at declining revenue, I'd sell it.</p><p>But breaking that URl comes with a problem. I've written before about <a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/02/bitly-finally-starts-taking-privacy-seriously/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">why URl shortening is bad for users and bad for the web.</a> I've even helped publish <a href="https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/blog/link-shorteners-the-long-and-short-of-why-you-shouldnt-use-them/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">government guidance</a> about it. But all of those were based on the premise that the shortener was a 3rd party service. I never thought someone would be as daft as to switch off their own service.</p><p>Here are some of the problems this sale causes.</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/edent/status/1560621791470448642" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a></p><p>Is there a tweet somewhere of a future politician saying "I support this 100% GU.com/...."? Redirect that to something horrific and you have a potential scandal on your hand.</p><p>There are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C5&amp;q=%22http%3A%2F%2Fgu.com%22&amp;btnG=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">lots of academic papers with <code>gu.com</code> shortened links</a>. Those are all now dead.</p><p>Millions of links around the web - including many <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22gu.com%22+site%3Atheguardian.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>on the Grauniad itself</em></a> - are all now broken.</p><p>The Guarrdian could fix this by publishing a list of all the shortened URls. That wouldn't stop links breaking, but would make it possible for researchers to reconstruct the original destination.</p><p>For decades, we've tried to remind people that "<a href="https://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Cool URls Don't Change</a>". We'll just have to hope that the people of the future find a way to decipher all these obsolete links.</p><p><a href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/never-use-a-url-shortening-service-even-if-you-own-it/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/02/never-use-a-url-shortening-service-even-if-you-own-it/</a></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/tag/guardian/" target="_blank">#guardian</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/tag/hyperlinks/" target="_blank">#hyperlinks</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/tag/newspapers/" target="_blank">#newspapers</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/tag/url/" target="_blank">#url</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/tag/web/" target="_blank">#web</a></p>
Kingsley Uyi Idehen<p><span class="h-card"><a href="https://mastodon.myfed.space/@meneer" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>meneer</span></a></span>,</p><p>Points 1-3 handle <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Identity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Identity</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Authenticity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Authenticity</span></a>. </p><p>Authenticated identity principals are then subject to ACL tests during CRUD operations. </p><p>The issue of contention here boils down to <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ZeroTrust" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ZeroTrust</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/SSI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SSI</span></a> using <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/PKI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PKI</span></a> (which doesn't scale for end-users) vs <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/DPKI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DPKI</span></a> (which solves the scalability problem via the combination of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a> and logic discerned from machine-computable entity relationship type semantics). </p><p>I think its best I write a blog post about this.</p><p>/cc <span class="h-card"><a href="https://piaille.fr/@bertrand" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>bertrand</span></a></span> <span class="h-card"><a href="https://infosec.exchange/@aniltj" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>aniltj</span></a></span> <span class="h-card"><a href="https://w3c.social/@w3c" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>w3c</span></a></span></p>
Jeff (of the internet)<p><a href="https://newsie.social/tags/Mastotips" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Mastotips</span></a> </p><p>Simply posting hyperlinks to news or content doesn't get much engagement on Mastodon.</p><p>Take some effort, give the link some context, a little personality and attach some <a href="https://newsie.social/tags/hyperlinks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hyperlinks</span></a></p>