BTA.lk - Official unofficial Bitcointalk short links

[Cyrus]

Bitcointalk links tend to be long and would sometimes prefer a shorter link, especially for sharing to Twitter, Reddit, etc.

How it works:
Here's a thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178336 -> https://bta.lk/topic/178336 (and /thread/ works too)
Even shorter:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=178336 -> https://bta.lk/t/178336 (half the size)
How about a user?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3 > https://bta.lk/user/3 / https://bta.lk/u/3 (almost a third the size)
And of course, an individual post:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2162.msg28302#msg28302 > https://bta.lk/thread/2162.msg28302#msg28302 / https://bta.lk/t/2162.msg28302#msg28302 (a third shorter but could be further optimized)

https://bta.lk
Such a service has been on my mind for a few years, but just recently found and got hold of a good domain for this.
Nothing is being logged, it's just redirected. Eg: bta.lk/path -> bitcointalk.org/path.
Sharing this to see if other people find it useful. If you do, let me know and might keep offering it.

Update: The domain's renewal has been paid in advance for the next 10 years, which is the maximum amount of time you could pay in advance.

[Jawhead999]

This will be good for Bitcointalk official social media (e.g. twitter and youtube) since many people prefer shorter link, but I don't think people in this forum will using that because copy pasting is easier and quick.

Personally if I don't see this thread, I wouldn't expect bta.lk is short link from bitcointalk.org because people only know Bitcoin is btc. Probably you can improve the sites with the automatic convert from bitcointalk link to shorter link.

It seems the individual post with this link is working too https://bta.lk/t/2162.#msg28302

[ABCbits]

And of course, an individual post:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2162.msg28302#msg28302 > https://bta.lk/thread/2162.msg28302#msg28302 / https://bta.lk/t/2162.msg28302#msg28302 (a third shorter but could be further optimized)

I would shorten it to one of those

Code:

https://bta.lk/t/2162/28302
https://bta.lk/t/2162/p/28302

Sharing this to see if other people find it useful. If you do, let me know and might keep offering it.

While i find this website useful, i wouldn't bother manually create the short link. I expect more people would use it if there's simple text input and button to shorten the link automatically.

[dkbit98]

Nothing is being logged, it's just redirected. Eg: bta.lk/example -> bitcointalk.org/example.
Sharing this to see if other people find it useful. If you do, let me know and might keep offering it.

What is the quickest way to make short link in bitcointalk?
It would be great if someone (read suchmoon) could add this in BPIP extension, so we can have one click short link sharing.
I think this can also be useful for BitcoinTalkShow and for sharing links on Twitter and other social media... but I hope evil youtube won't ban them (someone needs to test this asap).

PS
One possible issue I can see is longevity of the links, in case this short links stops working for whatever reasons, it would ideally need to fallback to original link.

[Iron Fist]

Personally if I don't see this thread, I wouldn't expect bta.lk is short link from bitcointalk.org because people only know Bitcoin is btc. Probably you can improve the sites with the automatic convert from bitcointalk link to shorter link.

I think the idea is for the short domain to be an abbreviation of bitcointalk, not Bitcoin.

It seems the individual post with this link is working too https://bta.lk/t/2162.#msg28302

This only works if the post is on the first page of the thread.

For example, this works: https://bta.lk/t/2162.#msg28383
but this doesn't: https://bta.lk/t/2162.#msg30683

One possible issue I can see is longevity of the links, in case this short links stops working for whatever reasons, it would ideally need to fallback to original link.

I don't think that's possible. If the bta.lk domain stops working (for whatever reason), short links will also stop working. Ideally, the domain (and hosting) should be under the same roof as bitcointalk.org.

[hugeblack]

I like the idea and I have a few suggestions:

 - Add the username: for example instead of https://bta.lk/user/3 you can use https://bta.lk/u/satoshi redirect to https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3.
 - Add archive: This can be done using userscripts but it will be amazing if you add /archive or /arh such as bta.lk/t/178336/arh or bta.lk/t/178336/archive
 - List of important topics: such as bta.lk/t/SatoshiFirsttopic or bta.lk/t/rules or bta.lk/t/reset_account

You have a problem with the link at the end of the page https://bta.lk/ It redirects to Bitcoin Core 22.0 Released

[SFR10]

but I don't think people in this forum will using that because copy pasting is easier and quick.

As someone who used to offer design services here, I know for a fact it'd come in handy for designers ^{[especially referring to the ones that design signatures (due to character limits, every less character counts when they're dealing with complex codes) and ANN threads (to a small extent)]}.

You have a problem with the link at the end of the page https://bta.lk/ It redirects to Bitcoin Core 22.0 Released

@Cyrus
Despite seeing an issue with the customized version, I think it could probably have more impact ^{[if we also had the ability to use it]} in comparison to other listed examples.

[twiki]

Can we see a green highlight for these shortened links in the foreseeable future?

Many users who communicate here on the forum rarely follow third-party links. It's sad that your service is likely to be lost on the far pages of this section, so many users will not be aware of this and, seeing a shortened link without a green highlight, will be afraid to click.

[NotATether]

Can we see a green highlight for these shortened links in the foreseeable future?

Many users who communicate here on the forum rarely follow third-party links. It's sad that your service is likely to be lost on the far pages of this section, so many users will not be aware of this and, seeing a shortened link without a green highlight, will be afraid to click.

I believe it deserves its own factoid in a banner, given that's the place where most users are likely to see it, and given that Cyrus is an admin I don't see why he couldn't add such a thing himself.

[Cyrus]

Awesome feedback and suggestions so far, thank you! Will try to address everything.
Fixed the link in the homepage.
To test if Youtube bans this link, I created a vanity URL for the BitcoinTalk Community Awards 2021 thread linked in the News section: https://bta.lk/t/bitcointalk-community-awards-2021
Then asked to be edited in the pinned comment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3v7Mg-IJxk&
It might be ok because it was posted by the channel's user, would be great if someone could post a link in a regular comment though to test it out.

Being useful to thread and signature designers is something that I didn't consider, but makes sense because it helps with the char count.
I've PMed theymos about it and linked him this thread. If he wants, I could transfer the domain to him.

Having it added to BPIP would be cool! If theymos thinks it's secure/future-proof enough it would be great so see it added to the green hover effect and maybe also a share button that you could copy the link.

Bta.lk homepage needs some more work, a textbox to generate links is probably needed.
Vanity URLs is something I considered for this project as a way to show gratitude but maybe also help pay for the domain and maybe even help BitcoinTalkShow.

Thank you!

[SFR10]

@Cyrus
Just noticed "BTA.lk is down ^{[it shows "Your connection is not private" error]}" and since I used it a couple of weeks back to post feedback on someone, I was wondering if I should revert back to normal/longer links or if it's just a temporary issue?

[ibminer]

^ certificate has expired

[rat03gopoh]

Just noticed

I think it's been a while, but I just found the official announcement post of this tool to notify.
I realized a while ago while looking back at the gallery I created for the purpose of this post, I had to manually search the pics because the sortlinks no longer work.

[digaran]

Hi there, VP ( vice president ), this is only to use outside the forum right? I mean can it be used somehow on quotes, when you quote someone in a post, instead of a long string of numbers, dates, it shows a short link like this. I don't know if doing that has security risks or not.

[NotATether]

^ certificate has expired

He should really put a Let's Encrypt certificate on it. Those things usually renew your certs automatically. Was he using a different CA to issue the certificates?

Also, I wouldn't try using these to circumvent blanket Wikipedia bans on this site, but then again, they'd find out if you were using the Wayback Machine or any other archive site to move the content off from the domain anyway.

[NotATether]

^ certificate has expired

He should really put a Let's Encrypt certificate on it. Those things usually renew your certs automatically. Was he using a different CA to issue the certificates?

Take note the automation part comes from software certbot.

And certbot also has to be run to set up the certificate for the first time anyway. It doesn't give you an option whether to enable autorenew or not, it just does it. That's why I find the situation with this domain quite peculiar. Was it using Let's Encrypt to get its certificates in the first place?

[PX-Z]

Was it using Let's Encrypt to get its certificates in the first place?

I don't remember. I also tried to check bta.lk on Internet Archive, but they don't archive such information.

The site was using Sectigo Cert. It was probably the free SSL certificate provided by namecheap ^{(as its hosting)} when the domain was bought last year.

Yeah, Let's Encrypt is a huge help for an expired ssl cert, that should be included to the plan.

[seoincorporation]

Bta.lk homepage needs some more work, a textbox to generate links is probably needed.
Vanity URLs is something I considered for this project as a way to show gratitude but maybe also help pay for the domain and maybe even help BitcoinTalkShow.

Hey Cyrus, what a nice project, I love it, and if I can contribute somehow please let me know, maybe I can give you a hand with the web development.

I don't have much experience with shorteners, and from what I understand the redirections are done from the Cpanel and not from the web code. I mean, we can give any link to any text like:

Code:

<a href="bitcointalk.org">bta.lk</a>

But to make it a rule we need to set it up under Cpanel > Redirect.

[Cyrus]

First of all, sorry for any downtime you may have experienced, this is now solved and should be future proof for the foreseeable future.
The domain's renewal has been paid in advance for the next 10 years, which is the maximum amount of time you could pay in advance.

Yeah, Let's Encrypt is a huge help for an expired ssl cert, that should be included to the plan.

Indeed, however for the time being I chose to re-issue the same cert as issuing a Let's Encrypt cert through Namecheap required more work and of course, time. They're supposedly working on it for a number of years.
We're set for some time, but I will look at options in the future.
For the redirects to work we don't even need a secure layer AFAIK - modern browsers would only show a warning if one would try to access a non-redirected URL, like the homepage itself.

Hey Cyrus, what a nice project, I love it, and if I can contribute somehow please let me know, maybe I can give you a hand with the web development.

I don't have much experience with shorteners, and from what I understand the redirections are done from the Cpanel and not from the web code. I mean, we can give any link to any text like:
[...]

The redirects are being done at the web server's config file level, through permanent redirects. This makes it quite fast and capable of handling quite a few of vanity urls added on top.

[EFS]

Can't believe I missed this thread. It's probably because I don't check Project Development too often. It looks useful for signatures most.
Thanks for this free link shortened service Cyrus! I'll open an announcement thread in our local board.