mstdn.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A general-purpose Mastodon server with a 500 character limit. All languages are welcome.

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In case you missed it, all links on Mastodon count as 23 characters towards your limit, no matter how many characters the link really is.

So, you don't need to use link shorteners on Mastodon as they won't actually affect the link's length.

Mastodon does this because it's better for everyone's privacy to avoid link shortener services, it means people can see what they're clicking on, and the link won't stop working if the shortener service shuts down.

More info at:

➡️ fedi.tips/you-dont-need-link-s

fedi.tipsYou don’t need link shorteners on Mastodon | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse
More from Fedi.Tips

@feditips what I really want to know, why is Mastodon so inconsistent about providing preview images for linked content? Sometimes I get them, sometimes not. It seems random.

FediTips has moved!

@giantspecks

I think this depends on the server, and when you look at the link. It can take some time for a preview to appear as your server has to prepare it, and if a server is very busy this process can take longer.

Are you seeing some previews never appearing, even days later?

@feditips Thanks for the reply! Yes, I just checked back to some June posts that included YouTube links—still nothing there.

@giantspecks

I think there was an issue at some point with YouTube's preview format, Google changed it and broke it on here, I think?

Is this still not working for new posts?

@giantspecks @feditips Link previews do usually appear with a delay. Since every Fediverse server will fetch their own preview, viral links could accidentally DDoS the original site otherwise.

@feditips @giantspecks

Yep. Preview can fail.

Just one of many reasons I obfuscate links.

@SpaceLifeForm @feditips I know the meaning of the word but can you explain it in this context?

@giantspecks @feditips

If you make the link un-clickable, no preview will occur.

@SpaceLifeForm @feditips ...and sorry, why on Earth would I want that? I want the opposite, a clickable link with a preview!

@giantspecks @feditips

Apparently you have not seen a preview show up in a different language than the original poster read.