Short URLs for threads and posts

[EcuaMobi]

I'd like to see a short link on every thread (and possibly every post). Something like:
bta.lk/topic/msg (this one is already registered but that's the idea)

To illustrate what I mean I've created a URL shortener in mobi.tl. Here are a few examples:

To link to the "Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules" (topic=703657) we could link to mobi.tl/703657

To link to the last message of page 10 (msg=10666254) inside that topic we could link to mobi.tl/703657/10666254

To make the links shorter we could use base64, base58 or something else. For example the previous links translate to: mobi.tl/4Bb2 and mobi.tl/4Bb2/WEGW (base58)
(I've created a small converter here: mobi.tl/703657+ and mobi.tl/703657/10666254+)

This post could be linked as mobi.tl/6d92/Yr73.

This would be really easy to implement and it doesn't even have to be on the same system/server because it's just a redirection. I think this would be useful to add links on trust feedback (when more than one link is required so the reference field is not enough), Twitter and other places where a link like https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=703657.msg10666254#msg10666254 could not fit, wouldn't be readable or just wouldn't look nice.

I know the new software will have links shorter than the current forum has, but still a very short link on a short domain hack would be nice.

Important: Please note this is just an example, do not use the domain mobi.tl for this.

[Cyrus]

Good idea. I suggested something similar to wangbus a while back.

[Grand_Voyageur]

Some referral link spammers already use it to try concealing their referrals. 

[EcuaMobi]

Some referral link spammers already use it to try concealing their referrals. 

I'm not sure I understand you, I guess you're talking about a lot of the short links used linking to other sites (not bitcointalk though) that users can't verify before clicking.
I'm proposing to use an official short domain to prevent that. This domain would be handled by theymos and everyone would know it's legit.

[redsn0w]

I also support the idea, have you verified if there are some "free" interesting short domain (to use for this purpose)? Here in the forum the complete link is not a problem, but maybe on twitter and reddit it ill be more easy the legibility of whole the text.

[EcuaMobi]

I also support the idea, have you verified if there are some "free" interesting short domain (to use for this purpose)? Here in the forum the complete link is not a problem, but maybe on twitter and reddit it ill be more easy the legibility of whole the text.

I do have some candidates but I haven't found anything 'perfect' yet. I'm not sure how we could vote for the best one without risking someone to register it before theymos. I guess he would need to approve the idea, then we could PM him some options so he can consult via PM to people he trusts to choose one and register.

[Muhammed Zakir]

I support this too. It will be really helpful in social media platforms.

In the meantime, for saving few letters in Twitter, you can remove "index.php" from the link. For this thread, it is https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=1016393.0.

P.S. I think many of them may have noticed this or know this can be done.

[cakir]

Very nice idea.
I would like to suggest something if it's possbile.
Urls are redirected like this; li.nk/topicId/postId
Can those urls can be like this one too; li.nk/topicId/postOrderId (for instance; li.nk/topicId/123 = 123rd post of this topic).
If a message gets deleted this order thing won't work BTW

[R2D221]

If a message gets deleted this order thing won't work BTW

That's the main reason the postId should be used, as proposed.

[josef2000]

This is just a genius idea!
The url would look cleaned up and more likely to remeber. The current url is just too time wasting to write it from scratch without looking and remebering all parametres like /index.php?topic=XXXXX ?action=profile;u=XXXXX etc erc
This would be great if its added in the future!

[Wangbus]

URLs are going to be compressed base64 uuid's. Probably not as short, but we'll make an effort there.