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You don't need to use link shorteners on Mastodon!

All links in Mastodon posts count as 23 characters towards your limit, no matter how long they actually are.

Also, the links are preserved in their original form. Unlike commercial social networks, there are no trackers of any kind inserted.

More info about this and many questions answered 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
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@feditips I actually didn't know that, is this something specific to mastodon or does other software on the fediverse implement this too?

@Rush

I'm not sure if others do, but the others tend to have much larger limits (or make it easier for admins to set larger limits) so it's not as much of an issue in general.

@feditips that's also true, I guess other software doesn't need it as much :P

@feditips @Rush Also, don't forget that with software that supports formatted text (Markdown, BBCode, etc.) the link text has no relation to the URL.
example.comExample Domain

@feditips I fly into a raging fit every time I see someone post a t(.)co link.

@NIH_LLAMAS @feditips I assume they're mirroring their tweets here, which inevitably leads to other problems (like saying "here" when they mean Twitter, and posting replies to things that aren't here).

@feditips I'm curious on how counting all links as 23 characrers was decided

@standingpad

23 characters was the original length of links generated by Twitter's link shortener.

I think the idea was to emphasise that such shorteners are unnecessary on here.

@feditips Shame that for us POSSE #indieweb folks syndicating to multiple destinations, we still have to assume the worst. I personally just built my own basic link shortener so I could syndicate to silos that handle links poorly while preserving reader privacy.

@snarfed.org The one I was thinking about was Micro.blog, which I believe also counts embedded URLs in their 280 character feed limit (though ironically it's not an issue for backfeed links since they take care of that themselves, it's only links out to third party sites that become an issue).

@feditips 4

Thats great news.
In a related subject, markup shouldnt hide urls, Mastodon should reveal the url/domain, should display them beside the link.

@kevinrns

The URL is visible on a computer if you hover the mouse over it without clicking. Equivalents on mobile are trickier, but it's a general problem with browsers as most links are behind links rather than just written URLs.

@feditips ok, didn't know that, learnt something new, thank you!

@feditips In fact, are harmful since they prevent and obfuscate the destination, bricking in the process...

@feditips Yeah, I avoid them nowadays, especially link shorteners used by #Apple & #Google.

@feditips Protip: you don't need link shorteners ANYWHERE online.

Pretty much the only reasonable use-case for a link shortener is when it needs to go in print and you expect someone to type it in manually

@keithjgrant @feditips what about trying to hide affiliate amazon links in an honest unbiased review on reddit