Google Shuts Down Goo.gl URL Shortening Service

[hazelnut]

It's something I won't miss

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/google-shuts-down-googl-url-shortening-service/

[DavidB]

Quote

It's something I won't miss

What did you dislike about it? I liked it and used it often, usually to shorten URLs included in tweets.

Not sure what I will use now.

[Andavari]

You can find another, there's more than one. What I never liked about any URL shortening service is there's no way of knowing what it will open which means it could easily be used for malicious purposes which is why I never click upon a shortened URL.

[nukecad]

2 hours ago, Andavari said:

You can find another, there's more than one. What I never liked about any URL shortening service is there's no way of knowing what it will open which means it could easily be used for malicious purposes which is why I never click upon a shortened URL.

I believe that you use Firefox?

Firefox should show the actual link address at the bottom left of your screen, just above the taskbar, when you hover the cursor over any link, shortened link or not it will show the full address.
(Addresses for images, ads, etc. being loaded by a webpage also flash up there).

If you want a copy of the address then right click the (shortened) link and 'Copy link location', you can then paste that into a text editor or anywhere else.

Try it with the 'Posted ### ago' or the 'Quote' or 'Edit' links on any forum post here.

[Andavari]

Didn't know that, and I see tons of shortened URLs on YouTube all the time. I'm using Firefox ESR so it's not the newest shiniest offering if for instance the newer builds are required for that functionality.

[nukecad]

Not sure about the ESR, but I don't see why it should be any different from the standard Firefox with these functions.

In particular the right click context menu should have the 'Copy link location' if you right click on a link.

The hover over a link thing, Firefox has done this for as long as I can remember, are you not seeing it on yours?

Here's an example, in this screenshot I was hovering the cursor on one of the 'Quote' links in this thread, you can see that the full path appears at the bottom left.

 

 

Again if I right click on 'Quote' and 'Copy link location' it put the full address into my clipboard, so that I can paste it here:
https://forum.piriform.com/topic/51512-google-shuts-down-googl-url-shortening-service/?tab=comments#

 

[Andavari]

I had never noticed Firefox resolving those shortened URLs before but I'll look out for it and try to remember what you've posted the next time I see one.

Mmm, just tried it on YouTube but that redesign that's shown in Firefox that won't disable and display in classic design really is a pigs lunch compared to the classic design, so I can't see any of the short URLs I know I've seen in the past on one particular automotive channel.

[login123]

Works here using ff 52.8.0 ESR on win xp.

[Noesis]

It depends on exactly what is being discussed here, a shortened url which has been shortened by using shortening service, as per the OP, won't be resolved to the true url by a mouseover, copy link etc, you'll only get the link provided by the service (which was posted by someone) which when clicked will be resolved by the shortening service to the original address by clicking it.

Things like regular links or the "quote" in this forum used as an example aren't shortened via a service, they are more like regular html links in that they have a displayed name or tag for the url they reference, and these will take you to the location displayed when moused over.

So I kind of agree with both, Nukecad and Andavari, as it's always best practice to check where the link will take you, but when it comes to url's shortened with a service, you don't know where it will take you other than to the shortening service then on to the magical mystery location, which could easily be malicious but may not be. And if you see a shortened link which leads to a link shortening service, odds are even greater that it's a location you probably wouldn't go to of you're own volition.

Bottom line is I don't like shortening services, they seem kind of unnecessary considering these days you can just put in a regular link with a tag to display in a post if you need a link to appear short, and if you can't then it's probably an archaic site. I have no idea about twitter, but I'd imagine you could do it this way too.

[DavidB]

4 hours ago, Noesis said:

I have no idea about twitter, but I'd imagine you could do it this way too.

Yes, Twitter does allow you to post proper URLs. But some URLs get pretty long. And Twitter used to have a 140 character limit on tweets. They have since doubled that limit to 280 characters. It can still be a challenge to include a URL and make a comment in a tweet limited to 280 characters.

Yes, there are other shortening services out there, but goo.gl was one of the shortest: using only six characters plus the hash, another four characters. That left more room (280 - 10) in terms of characters to use for an actual comment.

And if you want to include hashtags in a tweet, the balance left for commenting is reduced even further.

[Nergal]

Doesn't twitter shorten long URLs with t.co? They used to at least

[Andavari]

About the only short URLs I trust to click upon from YouTube channels I've never visited before are those for product reviews for instance a laptop computer where I can clearly see it's just a short URL that will open an Amazon.com page that use: amzn.to

[nukecad]

On 03/06/2018 at 13:57, Noesis said:

It depends on exactly what is being discussed here,

Yes, I believe we may be talking about different URL shortening methods. Sorry if it's confused anyone.

TBH I never use twitter, and only very rarely visit youtube, et-al, so I'm more familiar with the HTML style of shortened link.