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Do Metamark links expire?
Will the short links work forever?
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The Metamark urls expire after five years or two years after the last usage - whichever comes later. However, if a link is never used, it will expire after two years. This should mean that as long as a link is on a public page, some search engine will visit it and keep it alive.
Of course, this is subject to change and is no promise but just my intentions as of this writing. If you want guarantees you can make your own service.
So far we've been going for almost 5 years though (and not actually expired any links yet; other than ones used by idiots in spam).
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Inappropriate?The Metamark urls expire after five years or two years after the last usage - whichever comes later. However, if a link is never used, it will expire after two years. This should mean that as long as a link is on a public page, some search engine will visit it and keep it alive.
Of course, this is subject to change and is no promise but just my intentions as of this writing. If you want guarantees you can make your own service.
So far we've been going for almost 5 years though (and not actually expired any links yet; other than ones used by idiots in spam).
The company and 5 other people say
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Just a quick update to the policy:
URLs will now remain at least *7 years after the last use* or for 3 years if the URL has _never_ been used (not even once). In internet time, that's a pretty long time. :-) We'll update the policy as we go, but never to expire already created URLs faster.
Note that many other similar services either don't have an explicit policy, or claim to keep all URLs "forever", but of course that only works as long as the service itself sticks around. -
Inappropriate?Was actually wondering if after you've shortened a url and received a short url, if you've deleted the destination of the shortened url, if it's possible to replace the previous one with a new one.
Shorter less complicated version:
Old url is deleted, you create a new one and wish to use the same shortened url. Possible?
I’m More informed.
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The plan now is to allow you to use a hostname on your own domain ("r.example.com") and for short urls on that domain you can do anything you'd like.
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Inappropriate?Hi Juice Box,
Not possible currently, sorry!
Part of the service "guarantee" is that the short URLs don't change; obviously that limits a lot of possible features. I'm planning some new things that'll let us have the cake and eat it, too.
- ask
2 people say
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Inappropriate?The turn of events should prove to be interesting. A lot of potential still to be had.
Is the cake not a lie? (rhetorical)
Thank you for the reply. It was very helpful.
-Juice.
I’m More informed.
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Inappropriate?What about links placed in ebooks? those are obviously not searched by search engines, so do those links expire after 5 years too? -
Inappropriate?I just read a whole lot of bad feelings about I-Want-Sandy going away and many people are feeling so burned that they are saying they will never trust a free web service again. The folks I felt most strongly for are the folks with severe ADD who said that I-Want-Sandy was helping them have a normal life, finish school, etc.
You are very clear about your intentions, but the Sandy case makes it clear that when you promise to be there and encourage people to rely on you, you take on a Karmic debt, even if no money changes hands.
For those who want to minimize their own risk, if you are composing a web page or an ebook or anything where you can can control what is displayed separately from the URL that is referenced, then why not display meaningful text and hide the long URL?
Just food for thought (high in potassium?),
August
I’m reassured
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Inappropriate?Hi August,
Indeed! Any online service you use have this risk ... I'm honored that so many people are trusting Metamark all the same and I and the people who help run the service take the responsibility quite seriously.
Some of the things we're planning to do are to make it possible to run the shortening service on your own (sub)domain in a way so you yourself can keep the short urls alive forever.
- ask -
