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URL shorteners ....

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David

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I've just made a post that included a link to streetmap.co.uk. Instead of posting the huge URL I used an URL shortening service. However ....

Tiny URL, Bit ly, is gd and a couple of others are all censored, with the links showing as http://*******.com. Any particular reason?
 
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ert47

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Its probably to avoid spam, when posting a link, its probably best to use the Hyperlink tag.
 

David

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True, but when you have an URL that contains square brackets, such as Streetmap, then the URL link won't work, hence the URL shortening service.
 

ert47

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Ah ok, but you can use the shortened links in the hyperlink tag?
 

David

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Ah ok, but you can use the shortened links in the hyperlink tag?

Not is the links areblocked for whatever reason. Examples of what I mean ....

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?...ap+of+Scunthorpe+Station,+North+Lincolnshire+[Station]&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf - Normal URL. The square brackets stop the link from highlighting fully, and may not work.

&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf]Using the URL tags. As you can see, because of the square brackets, it looks a mess, and the link isn't guaranteed to work. Now for the 3 most commonly used URL shortening service ....

http://*******.com/7yrxae7 - Tiny URL

http://*******/yTsZLx - Bit ly

http://******/K6clru - Is gd
 

ert47

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I mean't couldnt you just use the ******* (or whatever shortener you used), put it in the hyperlink tag and then name the link something relevant? Eg. "map", "source" etc.

I'd show an example of it, but im currently on my phone on the way to work.

EDIT: lol, looks like naming the specific url provider is blocked
 

Badger

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They pose a security risk as malicious urls could be linked to without anybody knowing what they actually link to. Not just Nimp and things like that but also sites which might exploit cross site scripting etc.
 

michael769

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They pose a security risk as malicious urls could be linked to without anybody knowing what they actually link to. Not just Nimp and things like that but also sites which might exploit cross site scripting etc.

This - one should only click on a shortened URL if it comes from someone they know well and trust. And even then only if you can be sure that they got it from a reliable source.

There is no need to use a URL shorter on a forum, as most forum software will automatically shorten how it is displayed, or the poster can supply their own shortened text for the link.
 

Lrd

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If you tick the "short URL" box when you're making the link it'll make an even shorter g.co address (which isn't blocked by the forum, as it's not a public URL shortener).

http://g.co/maps/452xw
I tried doing that, but it never shortened for me, shame as that is what I was trying to do anyway.
 
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