
Watch out TinyURL, Cligs is much better for us - ajbatac
http://blog.go2web20.net/2008/09/watch-out-tinyurl-cligs-is-much-better.html
======
joshu
I despise URL shorteners. They mostly exist to triage broken email client
linewrap; more recently they fit links into SMS for twitter. This is
functionality that should be fixed in the mail client, or be built into
twitter/whatever.

Recently they add follow-counting, which I suppose makes people feel good -
they want credit around sending people to a link, and they want metrics, I
suppose. Again, this should be built into the app that is hosting the link.

It adds a layer of unreliability to the internet. Long-term they all will
almost certainly have failures, disappear, bugs, database corruption, etc,
rendering email and other documents useless.

They also make the link blind, so you have no sense of what you're about to
see, whether it might be worksafe, etc.

They're marginally useful for the linker but they're bad for everyone else.

------
makimaki
I think the main issue for these sites is reliability. I still remember many
URL shortening services that sprung up in the last few years, before quietly
going offline...URLtea is an example.

People use tinyurl because they know the links will stay active, at least for
a long time after they are posted.

~~~
thorax
So is tinyurl too big to let fail?

Spread the links around shortening services-- it's not like we need every URL
you ever shortened to work forever.

Also, some sites (like our little ri.ms site) also create a tinyurl for you so
you can have those to fall back on if you need for whatever reason.

------
orli
what do you think about this service: <http://tr.im/>? (as an alternative)

~~~
jsmcgd
Probably the best name yet for this kind of service.

------
timcederman
Shame about the name.

