When you see a short URL such as http://is.gd/w, these days it is actually referencing a valid, longer URL. This URL shortening has come about due to the character limitations for services such as Twitter. The way I’m doing this these days is using a Firefox add-on called Short URL Generator.
However, as of late there have been some scams that have been pointing those tiny URLs to URLs that are dangerous. So funny enough I have another Firefox add-on called Long URL Please that I’m using to verify that I like a URL prior to actually clicking on it, especially from a Windows box. And if you’re not using Firefox then there’s http://longurl.org, which gives you a little box to paste things into. I know it’s an extra step, but it’s a lot less time than reloading a box compromised with spyware…
Seems like URL shortening/lengthening has gone full circle…
