PLEASE! When you post links, please take a few seconds and provide a few words describing WHAT the link is about, unless the URL is self-descriptive. Don't assume that everybody will see any associated information from the target site along with your post -- often they won't. Clicking on links with no idea what they are other than that you find them useful or exciting is, frankly, annoying at best and the sort of activity we constantly warn people NOT to do. THANKS. -L
I second that.
If it's not worth someone's time
to add at least a short informative description,
I would think it's not worth my time
to open the page.
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org Mastodon does have link previews, I see one in the reply to this thread for example. And of course no one is forcing you to click on it. If you're following someone then it stands to reason that you do care to an extent what they find interesting.
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
If I can not tell what the link is about, it is almost certain that I will not chase it. So, it just becomes noise.
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
Yep. Especially youtube links.
Also, you can not count on preview either.
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org So true, also for YouTube videos, if you must, because these have opaque IDs only and show no useful preview, probably because the preview request hasnβt confirmed any cookies. (Obviously. π
)
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org Likewise, link shorteners don't need to be used on Mastodon - all links automatically truncate to count as 23 characters. So for transparency, privacy, and internet security it's better to paste links plain-text.
Fedi tips article: https://fedi.tips/you-dont-need-link-shorteners-on-mastodon/
@ibrahimtencer@mathstodon.xyz Link previews FREQUENTLY fail. I see bare links much of the time, as many other users have reported. On busy/slow sites the previews can be long delayed or sometimes never appear. I follow various people who have various interests. The fact that I follow them for a tech link doesn't mean I'm interested in a cooking link. It wastes my time and resources to click on links that somebody hasn't bothered to take the few seconds to describe. Period.
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org then that's a problem with the site/app, not the people posting the links. And as mentioned you can always just not click on it.
@ibrahimtencer@mathstodon.xyz Adding a word or two is NOT an inconvenience. Not doing so is just LAZINESS and not caring about your followers. A post like:
WOW, this is great! and a link tells you NOTHING.
It could be: WOW, this is great. Aircraft: LINK
This is not rocket science.
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org @ibrahimtencer@mathstodon.xyz
But but but I'm used to talking on my phone with my best friends who know which TV program I'm watching.
They don't need context, get off my lawn!
Lauren Weinstein
