It’s the old url ending in a ) trick.  It’s been discussed here before., I think we determined that it’s a bug in the BB software.

Faldage - 14 January 2013 05:17 PM

It’s the old url ending in a ) trick.  It’s been discussed here before., I think we determined that it’s a bug in the BB software.

Yes, there was a thread about it in the Meta Discussion forum.

Not related to the end-parens issue but it would be helpful is folks use the <a> tool from the menu above the writing area and put your url (paste it) into the pop-up screen that appears. Alternatively one can go to tinyurl.com (or another such site and change the long url to a short one. Or, you could do both as sobiest did.

Long urls have a way of distorting the page on small laptops at least.

Tinyurls expire after a while, so they’re not good choices for archival purposes. Using the <a> option is the best practice.

Dave Wilton - 15 January 2013 07:04 AM

Tinyurls expire after a while, so they’re not good choices for archival purposes. Using the <a> option is the best practice.

So have I been misled?

Quote from tinyurl.com:

...By entering in a URL in the text field below, we will create a tiny URL that will not break in email postings and never expires....

Yeah, that’s what they claim, but I’ve run into many tinyurls that are no longer valid--and not just because the original has been deleted or moved.

So have I been misled?

Quote from tinyurl.com:

No man cries stinking fish.

True, but fishmongers (and fishwives) presumably don’t shout, “Get your stink-free fish, here!”, either, unless, against all odds, they actually have some for sale.

either, unless, against all odds, they actually have some for sale.

presumably they do!

Oecolampadius - 15 January 2013 07:04 PM

either, unless, against all odds, they actually have some for sale.

presumably they do!

Tinyurl appears to have stink-free fish. (Or, at least fish not stinking much yet):

Seeking clarification, I requested assistance from tinyurl’s support address:

My question was [in part]:

I am engaged in a discussion ...[this thread]…

It was stated [in the discussion] that

“...that’s what they claim, but I’ve run into many tinyurls that are no longer valid--and not just because the original has been deleted or moved. ”

Can you inform me under what circumstance[s] tinyurl links are broken or expired by tinyurl?

I received a response, [in part] roughly:

TinyURLs never expire. However, if they break our terms of use, such as being used in spam, we will terminate them....

This is likely far from an official, policy-level, response. But it was a response; and, it addressed the issue.

I have never had a tinyurl break for me.

Caveat:

“...if you’re not paying for something, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold”.

.

With no prejudice to the company, about which I know nothing except the nature of their product, I would never trust what a company said about the value, trustworthiness, and/or enduring quality of its own product.  YMMV, as they say.

Blind mistrust is fine, but for those of us who understand how Tiny works, their claims are reasonable. I’m not a fan of absolute terms like “never” or “always” when it comes to computers, but the technical expertise required to run their operation is first year computer engineering stuff and the cost to store their redirect tables is incredibly cheap. A redirect is a single line of code and just to be clear, “code” is plain text. I have an archive that is about 1.8 million lines of code and it’s under 5GB. That makes a 20TB hard drive capable of storing something like 8 billion lines of code. There are something like 12 to 13 billion web pages on the net these days, so even if Tiny had to archive all of those URLs, it would still be an easy and cheap thing to do. One decent workstation and a couple of contract workers from Fiverr and you’re good to go.

It might be useful to remember that unless you’re using IP addresses, all URLs are essentially tiny URLs. The whole internet runs off redirect tables. It’s child’s play for anyone who knows what they’re doing.

Probably “never” is pushing it. For all I know Tinyurl could be out of business with no legacy plan next year.

YMMV, as they say.

Cynicism is my forte. But there are times where I find it altogether too easy.

I would never trust what a company said about the value, trustworthiness, and/or enduring quality of its own product

A piscatorial warning, “Caviar emptor.”