stopping bit.ly automatic shortening of urls
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infopete
Jul 7, 2009, 7:42:36 AM7/7/09
to Twitter Development Talk
we're writing an application to do live gps tracking with Twitter.
We'd like to be able to have a full url in a message which we could
parse or use as a direct web link.
GPS logging will be done on pocket pc based phones and we already have
a test application available (Twittrack).
We're extending the functionality of our silverlight application
http://tweepware.infonote.com to be able to display live gps updates
from Twitter.
But......
When we post to Twitter using the api our url is always shrunk to a
bit.ly url.
How can we stop this?
Regards
Pete
We'd like to be able to have a full url in a message which we could
parse or use as a direct web link.
GPS logging will be done on pocket pc based phones and we already have
a test application available (Twittrack).
We're extending the functionality of our silverlight application
http://tweepware.infonote.com to be able to display live gps updates
from Twitter.
But......
When we post to Twitter using the api our url is always shrunk to a
bit.ly url.
How can we stop this?
Regards
Pete
Abraham Williams
Jul 7, 2009, 9:11:20 AM7/7/09
to twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
There is no way to turn URL shortening off.
Two ways you could handle this though are:
1) Keep the URLs short enough that Twitter does not turn them into bitly links. I don't think the exact size/composition is published so you would have to experiment to see where that line is.
2) Shorten it yourself so you can control what comes after the /. It would not be a direct link but you could parse it.
Abraham--
Abraham Williams | Community Evangelist | http://web608.org
Hacker | http://abrah.am | http://twitter.com/abraham
Project | http://fireeagle.labs.poseurtech.com
This email is: [ ] blogable [x] ask first [ ] private.
Two ways you could handle this though are:
1) Keep the URLs short enough that Twitter does not turn them into bitly links. I don't think the exact size/composition is published so you would have to experiment to see where that line is.
2) Shorten it yourself so you can control what comes after the /. It would not be a direct link but you could parse it.
Abraham
Abraham Williams | Community Evangelist | http://web608.org
Hacker | http://abrah.am | http://twitter.com/abraham
Project | http://fireeagle.labs.poseurtech.com
This email is: [ ] blogable [x] ask first [ ] private.
infopete
Jul 7, 2009, 10:12:18 AM7/7/09
to Twitter Development Talk
Thanks for the hint.
It looks like I get get this much in http://www.infonote.com/tw?1234567890123
before it gets converted to bit.ly
I'll look into compression algorithms to see what I can do.
On 7 July, 14:11, Abraham Williams <4bra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There is no way to turn URL shortening off.
>
> Two ways you could handle this though are:
> 1) Keep the URLs short enough that Twitter does not turn them into bitly
> links. I don't think the exact size/composition is published so you would
> have to experiment to see where that line is.
> 2) Shorten it yourself so you can control what comes after the /. It would
> not be a direct link but you could parse it.
>
> Abraham
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 06:42, infopete <p...@infonote.com> wrote:
>
> > we're writing an application to do live gps tracking with Twitter.
>
> > We'd like to be able to have a full url in a message which we could
> > parse or use as a direct web link.
>
> > GPS logging will be done on pocket pc based phones and we already have
> > a test application available (Twittrack).
>
> > We're extending the functionality of our silverlight application
> >http://tweepware.infonote.comto be able to display live gps updates
>
> - Show quoted text -
It looks like I get get this much in http://www.infonote.com/tw?1234567890123
before it gets converted to bit.ly
I'll look into compression algorithms to see what I can do.
On 7 July, 14:11, Abraham Williams <4bra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There is no way to turn URL shortening off.
>
> Two ways you could handle this though are:
> 1) Keep the URLs short enough that Twitter does not turn them into bitly
> links. I don't think the exact size/composition is published so you would
> have to experiment to see where that line is.
> 2) Shorten it yourself so you can control what comes after the /. It would
> not be a direct link but you could parse it.
>
> Abraham
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 06:42, infopete <p...@infonote.com> wrote:
>
> > we're writing an application to do live gps tracking with Twitter.
>
> > We'd like to be able to have a full url in a message which we could
> > parse or use as a direct web link.
>
> > GPS logging will be done on pocket pc based phones and we already have
> > a test application available (Twittrack).
>
> > We're extending the functionality of our silverlight application
> > from Twitter.
>
> > But......
>
> > When we post to Twitter using the api our url is always shrunk to a
> > bit.ly url.
>
> > How can we stop this?
>
> > Regards
>
> > Pete
>
> --
> Abraham Williams | Community Evangelist |http://web608.org
> Hacker |http://abrah.am|http://twitter.com/abraham
> Project |http://fireeagle.labs.poseurtech.com
> This email is: [ ] blogable [x] ask first [ ] private.- Hide quoted text -
>
> > But......
>
> > When we post to Twitter using the api our url is always shrunk to a
> > bit.ly url.
>
> > How can we stop this?
>
> > Regards
>
> > Pete
>
> --
> Abraham Williams | Community Evangelist |http://web608.org
> Hacker |http://abrah.am|http://twitter.com/abraham
> Project |http://fireeagle.labs.poseurtech.com
>
> - Show quoted text -
Brian Smith
Jul 7, 2009, 1:31:04 PM7/7/09
to twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
Infopete wrote:
>
> It looks like I get get this much in
> http://www.infonote.com/tw?1234567890123
> before it gets converted to bit.ly
>
> It looks like I get get this much in
> http://www.infonote.com/tw?1234567890123
> before it gets converted to bit.ly
Try removing the "?". Some people have already researched the circumstances
under which URLs get shortened vs. left alone. IIRC, one requirement is that
all characters after the ".com/" must be alphanumeric. Actually, I am not
sure that the length of the URL is even considered.
- Brian
Chad Etzel
Jul 7, 2009, 2:30:10 PM7/7/09
to twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
Yes, length is considered (I think 24 characters is a number I've
heard somewhere). Also, I've heard Al3x say that URL "format" is also
considered. I'm not exactly sure what that entails, but I would guess
that some query string characters would make it a candidate for
shortening.
heard somewhere). Also, I've heard Al3x say that URL "format" is also
considered. I'm not exactly sure what that entails, but I would guess
that some query string characters would make it a candidate for
shortening.
The best bet is to do the shortening yourself, or create some sort of
"friendly" format to avoid shortening.
It would be nice to have some official formatting rules exposed... I'm
pretty sure it's not a trade secret :)
-Chad
Swaroop
Jul 8, 2009, 4:50:46 AM7/8/09
to Twitter Development Talk
"However, if you paste in a link that is less than 30 characters,
we'll post it in its entirety. If it's longer than 30 characters,
we'll convert it to a shorter URL."
Source: http://help.twitter.com/portal
we'll post it in its entirety. If it's longer than 30 characters,
we'll convert it to a shorter URL."
Source: http://help.twitter.com/portal
sull
Jul 8, 2009, 12:20:38 PM7/8/09
to Twitter Development Talk
this is a topic of interest to me for a long while.
been meaning to start a thread.
i'm often bothered by the automatic shortening of urls when in fact
the url does not need to be shortened. in these cases, i of course do
not want to hide the real url by using a forced 3rd party service like
bit.ly.
i have use cases where all that is posted is a url. and the url
includes a long detailed description of the link. this, in my
opinion, is smart as the only object to maintain is the url itself
which provides a hyperlink and a short message combined. sometimes,
these use cases are using natural language vanity urls to form short
sentences.
ie. http://john.tot.al.ly/wiped-out-on-this-huge-wave-in-hawaii-at-the-Surf-Hawaii-Surf-School-on-the-island-of-Oahu
the other annoying thing that is related to the twitter UI is how long
urls are cut-off//trimmed even if they dont need to be. the above
example would be destroyed because it would result in something
like:
http://john.tot.al.ly/wip....
actually, i'm not certain if that is still the case as it seems to me
that every url is shortened with bit.ly now. i grok the value in
tracking urls and bit.ly may be bought by twitter at some point and
this notion of url tracking will be fully integrated.... but the
debate about url shortners in general.... how they can break the
natural web, are vulnerable to massive broken links and simply thr
cryptic format itself that hides the true location.... are all to be
considered and continued to be debated.
at the very least, 3rd party developers should get an override
toggle.
that is something i think we all need to start demanding.
and yes, an official doc explaining the current and future
impementations of url shortening on twitter is definitely needed now.
http://plea.se/twitter-dont-shorten-this-url-with-bitly-since-it-does-not-need-to-be-shortened-with-8-available-characters-remaining
http://twitter.com/sull/status/2534470050
@sull
been meaning to start a thread.
i'm often bothered by the automatic shortening of urls when in fact
the url does not need to be shortened. in these cases, i of course do
not want to hide the real url by using a forced 3rd party service like
bit.ly.
i have use cases where all that is posted is a url. and the url
includes a long detailed description of the link. this, in my
opinion, is smart as the only object to maintain is the url itself
which provides a hyperlink and a short message combined. sometimes,
these use cases are using natural language vanity urls to form short
sentences.
ie. http://john.tot.al.ly/wiped-out-on-this-huge-wave-in-hawaii-at-the-Surf-Hawaii-Surf-School-on-the-island-of-Oahu
the other annoying thing that is related to the twitter UI is how long
urls are cut-off//trimmed even if they dont need to be. the above
example would be destroyed because it would result in something
like:
http://john.tot.al.ly/wip....
actually, i'm not certain if that is still the case as it seems to me
that every url is shortened with bit.ly now. i grok the value in
tracking urls and bit.ly may be bought by twitter at some point and
this notion of url tracking will be fully integrated.... but the
debate about url shortners in general.... how they can break the
natural web, are vulnerable to massive broken links and simply thr
cryptic format itself that hides the true location.... are all to be
considered and continued to be debated.
at the very least, 3rd party developers should get an override
toggle.
that is something i think we all need to start demanding.
and yes, an official doc explaining the current and future
impementations of url shortening on twitter is definitely needed now.
http://plea.se/twitter-dont-shorten-this-url-with-bitly-since-it-does-not-need-to-be-shortened-with-8-available-characters-remaining
http://twitter.com/sull/status/2534470050
@sull
sull
Jul 8, 2009, 12:27:51 PM7/8/09
to Twitter Development Talk
ironically, my example urls are shortened here ;)
On Jul 8, 12:20 pm, sull <sullele...@gmail.com> wrote:
> this is a topic of interest to me for a long while.
> been meaning to start a thread.
>
> i'm often bothered by the automatic shortening of urls when in fact
> the url does not need to be shortened. in these cases, i of course do
> not want to hide the real url by using a forced 3rd party service like
> bit.ly.
> i have use cases where all that is posted is a url. and the url
> includes a long detailed description of the link. this, in my
> opinion, is smart as the only object to maintain is the url itself
> which provides a hyperlink and a short message combined. sometimes,
> these use cases are using natural language vanity urls to form short
> sentences.
>
> ie.http://john.tot.al.ly/wiped-out-on-this-huge-wave-in-hawaii-at-the-Su...
On Jul 8, 12:20 pm, sull <sullele...@gmail.com> wrote:
> this is a topic of interest to me for a long while.
> been meaning to start a thread.
>
> i'm often bothered by the automatic shortening of urls when in fact
> the url does not need to be shortened. in these cases, i of course do
> not want to hide the real url by using a forced 3rd party service like
> bit.ly.
> i have use cases where all that is posted is a url. and the url
> includes a long detailed description of the link. this, in my
> opinion, is smart as the only object to maintain is the url itself
> which provides a hyperlink and a short message combined. sometimes,
> these use cases are using natural language vanity urls to form short
> sentences.
>
>
> the other annoying thing that is related to the twitter UI is how long
> urls are cut-off//trimmed even if they dont need to be. the above
> example would be destroyed because it would result in something
> like:
>
> http://john.tot.al.ly/wip....
>
> actually, i'm not certain if that is still the case as it seems to me
> that every url is shortened with bit.ly now. i grok the value in
> tracking urls and bit.ly may be bought by twitter at some point and
> this notion of url tracking will be fully integrated.... but the
> debate about url shortners in general.... how they can break the
> natural web, are vulnerable to massive broken links and simply thr
> cryptic format itself that hides the true location.... are all to be
> considered and continued to be debated.
>
> at the very least, 3rd party developers should get an override
> toggle.
> that is something i think we all need to start demanding.
>
> and yes, an official doc explaining the current and future
> impementations of url shortening on twitter is definitely needed now.
>
> http://plea.se/twitter-dont-shorten-this-url-with-bitly-since-it-does...
> the other annoying thing that is related to the twitter UI is how long
> urls are cut-off//trimmed even if they dont need to be. the above
> example would be destroyed because it would result in something
> like:
>
> http://john.tot.al.ly/wip....
>
> actually, i'm not certain if that is still the case as it seems to me
> that every url is shortened with bit.ly now. i grok the value in
> tracking urls and bit.ly may be bought by twitter at some point and
> this notion of url tracking will be fully integrated.... but the
> debate about url shortners in general.... how they can break the
> natural web, are vulnerable to massive broken links and simply thr
> cryptic format itself that hides the true location.... are all to be
> considered and continued to be debated.
>
> at the very least, 3rd party developers should get an override
> toggle.
> that is something i think we all need to start demanding.
>
> and yes, an official doc explaining the current and future
> impementations of url shortening on twitter is definitely needed now.
>
whoiskb
Jul 8, 2009, 4:31:20 PM7/8/09
to Twitter Development Talk
I am curious if there has ever been an official response from twitter
on why some simple HTML has not been allowed in a tweet? If we were
able to use an anchor tag, and the HTML did not count against the 140
character limit, then the need for a URL shortener service would not
be needed.
on why some simple HTML has not been allowed in a tweet? If we were
able to use an anchor tag, and the HTML did not count against the 140
character limit, then the need for a URL shortener service would not
be needed.
Joel Strellner
Jul 8, 2009, 4:42:36 PM7/8/09
to twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
It goes back to the root of twitter originally being a SMS
application. I recall hearing or reading someone on the Twitter team
saying that.
application. I recall hearing or reading someone on the Twitter team
saying that.
-Joel
sull
Jul 8, 2009, 8:22:50 PM7/8/09
to Twitter Development Talk
yes, twitter is after all a text based service.
anyway, adding html to a tweet opens up a can of worms.
it wont happen. it shouldnt happen.
yes, twtr could provide, via the web UI at least, a way to add
metadata to a tweet that is extra (not the text message itself, but
associated data that can be exposed on certain UIs. but thats a
different topic and i'd like to improve the current issue of short
urling.
also of interest - http://twitterdata.org
On Jul 8, 4:42 pm, Joel Strellner <j...@twitturly.com> wrote:
> It goes back to the root of twitter originally being a SMS
> application. I recall hearing or reading someone on the Twitter team
> saying that.
>
> -Joel
>
anyway, adding html to a tweet opens up a can of worms.
it wont happen. it shouldnt happen.
yes, twtr could provide, via the web UI at least, a way to add
metadata to a tweet that is extra (not the text message itself, but
associated data that can be exposed on certain UIs. but thats a
different topic and i'd like to improve the current issue of short
urling.
also of interest - http://twitterdata.org
On Jul 8, 4:42 pm, Joel Strellner <j...@twitturly.com> wrote:
> It goes back to the root of twitter originally being a SMS
> application. I recall hearing or reading someone on the Twitter team
> saying that.
>
> -Joel
>
Dean Collins
Jul 7, 2009, 11:20:53 AM7/7/09
to twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
Yeh we have the same problem with www.LiveBaseballChat.com
Even though we keep the messages under 140 characters and put the CHurl links at the start of the message Twitter still truncates the urls into bitly links….. which wouldn’t be so bad if it was just a URL but our CHurls are structured links eg this fake link below.
Ø <http://www.livebaseballchat.com/CHurl/09/04/11/10/A1234F>
>
> Made up of the following constitute parts
>
> URL/ Live Baseballchat.com
>
> CHurl/ Word
>
> 09/ Year
>
> 04/ Month
>
> 11/ Date
>
> 10/ Room number
>
> A1234FG/ Message number
I’m hoping that eventually once Twitter starts offering commercial accounts that ‘non bitly’ truncation is one of the features that paid accounts will be able to pay for.
Regards,
Dean Collins
Cognation Inc
de...@cognation.net
+1-212-203-4357 New
York
+61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial).
+44-20-3129-6001 (London in-dial).
infopete
Jul 9, 2009, 12:07:04 PM7/9/09
to Twitter Development Talk
My current idea is to "go with the flow" and use bit.ly to store my
structured url and have my silverlight application use the bit.ly api
to get the structured data. I had hoped that i could have meaningful
url's in the tweet but it's not over important.
I'll use the extra space in the tweet for location information.
Thanks everyone for your input.
On Jul 7, 4:20 pm, "Dean Collins" <D...@cognation.net> wrote:
> Yeh we have the same problem withwww.LiveBaseballChat.com
>
> Even though we keep the messages under 140 characters and put the CHurl
> links at the start of the message Twitter still truncates the urls into
> bitly links..... which wouldn't be so bad if it was just a URL but our
> Even though we keep the messages under 140 characters and put the CHurl
> links at the start of the message Twitter still truncates the urls into
> CHurls are structured links eg this fake link below.
>
> * <http://www.livebaseballchat.com/CHurl/09/04/11/10/A1234F>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Made up of the following constitute parts
>
> > URL/ Live Baseballchat.com
>
> > CHurl/ Word
>
> > 09/ Year
>
> > 04/ Month
>
> > 11/ Date
>
> > 10/ Room number
>
> > A1234FG/ Message number
>
> I'm hoping that eventually once Twitter starts offering commercial
> accounts that 'non bitly' truncation is one of the features that paid
> accounts will be able to pay for.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dean Collins
> Cognation Inc
> d...@cognation.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Made up of the following constitute parts
>
> > URL/ Live Baseballchat.com
>
> > CHurl/ Word
>
> > 09/ Year
>
> > 04/ Month
>
> > 11/ Date
>
> > 10/ Room number
>
> > A1234FG/ Message number
>
> I'm hoping that eventually once Twitter starts offering commercial
> accounts that 'non bitly' truncation is one of the features that paid
> accounts will be able to pay for.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dean Collins
> Cognation Inc
> <mailto:d...@cognation.net> +1-212-203-4357 New York
> +61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial).
> +44-20-3129-6001 (London in-dial).
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Abraham
> Williams
> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 9:11 AM
> To: twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [twitter-dev] Re: stopping bit.ly automatic shortening of urls
>
> There is no way to turn URL shortening off.
>
> Two ways you could handle this though are:
> 1) Keep the URLs short enough that Twitter does not turn them into bitly
> links. I don't think the exact size/composition is published so you
> would have to experiment to see where that line is.
> 2) Shorten it yourself so you can control what comes after the /. It
> would not be a direct link but you could parse it.
>
> Abraham
>
> +44-20-3129-6001 (London in-dial).
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Abraham
> Williams
> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 9:11 AM
> To: twitter-deve...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [twitter-dev] Re: stopping bit.ly automatic shortening of urls
>
> There is no way to turn URL shortening off.
>
> Two ways you could handle this though are:
> 1) Keep the URLs short enough that Twitter does not turn them into bitly
> links. I don't think the exact size/composition is published so you
> would have to experiment to see where that line is.
> 2) Shorten it yourself so you can control what comes after the /. It
> would not be a direct link but you could parse it.
>
> Abraham
>
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 06:42, infopete <p...@infonote.com> wrote:
>
> we're writing an application to do live gps tracking with Twitter.
>
> We'd like to be able to have a full url in a message which we could
> parse or use as a direct web link.
>
> GPS logging will be done on pocket pc based phones and we already have
> a test application available (Twittrack).
>
> We're extending the functionality of our silverlight applicationhttp://tweepware.infonote.comto be able to display live gps updates
>
> we're writing an application to do live gps tracking with Twitter.
>
> We'd like to be able to have a full url in a message which we could
> parse or use as a direct web link.
>
> GPS logging will be done on pocket pc based phones and we already have
> a test application available (Twittrack).
>
> from Twitter.
>
> But......
>
> When we post to Twitter using the api our url is always shrunk to a
> bit.ly url.
>
> How can we stop this?
>
> Regards
>
> Pete
>
> --
> Abraham Williams | Community Evangelist |http://web608.org
> Hacker |http://abrah.am|http://twitter.com/abraham
> Project |http://fireeagle.labs.poseurtech.com
>
> But......
>
> When we post to Twitter using the api our url is always shrunk to a
> bit.ly url.
>
> How can we stop this?
>
> Regards
>
> Pete
>
> --
> Abraham Williams | Community Evangelist |http://web608.org
> Hacker |http://abrah.am|http://twitter.com/abraham
> Project |http://fireeagle.labs.poseurtech.com
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