Bitcoin Forum

If you ever see a post that has shortlink or someone else send an Airdrop link but that link is shortened.
So we don't know what site in that link if not visit it.
But, we don't know that link is real or phising site.

So, i create tips to newbie about how to check shortened link safely.

EXAMPLE : I found airdrop link from other people in my Telegram and that link is shortened with Bitly.
1. Go to http://checkshorturl.com
https://i.postimg.cc/rpVN4FLD/Screenshot-2019-09-19-10-34-22-292-com-android-browser.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
2. Copy shortened link and paste in that website. Then click expand.
https://i.postimg.cc/WzshttZ3/Screenshot-2019-09-19-09-49-37-121-com-android-browser.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
3. Wait a few second then you will see long url/link that shortened before.

Note : Not all shortened link can checked. 

Alternative to that website is : https://unshorten.it/
They are almost the same. I tried it with some PAY PER CLICK URL shortener, seems like not working.

https://i.imgflip.com/3ayq9f.jpg (https://imgflip.com/i/3ayq9f)

This is also the best for those people who are greedy to share their own referral link that hiding in some url shortener  ;D

There are many website about expand shortener url if you search in Google.
Most of them only can expand free url shortened like Bitly, goo.gl, tinyurl.

Nice guide,
but if you see a post that has a short link in this forum, I think that is clearly in violation of one of the forum rules.

If I'm not mistaken if there are posts use short links then the link will automatically be deleted and replaced with the sentence [Suspicious link removed] by forum system.
CMIIW.

Whether what's hidden on that short link, legit or sh*t, short-links does have an advantage that's why it was being used.

And for let's say, those newbies will able to know what's the site hidden on that short link, will they really stop from there and not proceed? Since they are newbies, they might be deceived by the website's name and will still continue to look. Maybe out of confusion or the one who shared that link is somehow popular and trustworthy and just use short-links to make their announcement more manageable and neat.

People, especially those newbies, just have to be extra careful and as much as possible, always use their common sense.

Just don't click on shortened links on this forum. There's really no reason to even make them for this forum in the first place considering it's easy enough to just insert a hyperlink into a post or thread (located above the text box when you're making a post, next to the picture icon), and links usually aren't so long that they need to be shortened except on certain occasions. You're able to shorten links even more than with a link shortener using a hyperlink, and people can hover over the hyperlink and see where it leads.

It will also not hurt to install a plug-in that protects you. There are some extensions for Chrome for instance that will take you to an intermediary page first, so that even if you accidentally click it, it will stop you.

For example, take a look at: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unshortenlink/gbobdaaeaihkghbokihkofcbndhmbdpd?hl=en (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unshortenlink/gbobdaaeaihkghbokihkofcbndhmbdpd?hl=en)

https://i.postimg.cc/hjRZDf1w/image.png (https://postimg.cc/5HpSp9Gq)

I quoted your post to help display images^* as you intended.
Just a suggestion, please be careful when you want to use browser add-ons/plug-ins.

---

^*I reduced the size of the image display.

Thanks for that. Turns out I didn't earn the right amount of credits yet on the forum to post pictures ;)

Most short link services also let you see the details (like destination) and stats of the link if you put a + at the end of the URL.

Ex:
https://bitly.com/2IcYSGf+

Way simpler and easy. No need to download an extension or go to another website to do that.

It's very useful tool, thanks for sharing. I'm not newbie, but I didn't knew about such things. It's often risky to click shortlinks because you don't know what's hiding behind it. So, such tools solve this problem. Yeah, we have to do some extra steps to check link before clicking it, but it's better safe than sorry.
No, not all shortlinks requires to view ad before ooening website. Shortlinks like Bit.ly don't have ads and it's not against forum rules.
And shortlinks aren't getting automatically removed. I think [Suspicious link removed] thing is only for Newbies when, but I'm not sure when exactly these links are removed. Probably there is some blacklisted websites and domains for newbies.

There are many more alternatives which are better and worse.

Some of them are able to unshort many links from many shortener services and others only from one or two of them max.

I think one has to try them all to choose the best one which is the most useful and suitable for personal needs. Here are a few examples:

https://unshorten.me/

https://i.imgur.com/fBcKGQz.png

https://urlex.org/

https://i.imgur.com/OwVb50m.png

https://linkunshorten.com/

https://i.imgur.com/lzthyh3.png

I used http://redirectdetective.com/ in the past to check these type of links but at the moment the site seems to be down, maybe they are having some temporary problems or they are already a thing of the past.

Good tip, I will make sure to remember that. Thanks!

terizla thank you for the material!!! I translated your article into Russian with this link   ;) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5201385.msg53072773#msg53072773

You can take a look at xandry message. Here is a more professional way to check the links.

That's method only work for bitly. Doesn't work for other shortlink like tinyurl, is.gd and bit.do
For bit.do and is.gd we can check short url by following add [-] example http://bit.do/fjc99- or https://is.gd/kfaIqB-
And for tinyurl add [preview.] to check >> https://preview.tinyurl.com/v2e64hc

Your welcome  :D
I found this tips because i hate shortlink while download movie in a website.
This shortlink is so boring, always redirect to other website when i click.

I never ever clicked a shortlink on this forum and I never will - they are always in some shady posts created by throwaway accounts. Besides, we are on a forum, we have bbcode here, which means shortlinks are useless - just use the forum's url tag to wrap a link over some text while preserving its full path - this way users can hover over it and see where it leads. Shortlinks were created for social media like Twitter and Facebook where people can't create links the way they can on forums.

It would be great not to click on such short-links. If there was not wrapped marketing trick it will not be shortlink. But, your guide is really great and thus, I would say it is not only for newbie. Instead it is for all. Thanks

Thank you. Oh, I understand you, it pisses me off, too