Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#1

Post by jacobr » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 1:49 PM UTC

Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?
justinsomnia.org

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#2

Post by habudibab » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 2:58 PM UTC

Would be great for viral marketing. As far as I know it is possible to forge codes that are valid but have an image embedded. A stickfigure giving another one oral pleasures for example. Place it in the streets and people who think of QR codes as random jumble will see it as a funny coincidence, take a picture for the funny pages and maybe decypher it and visit your erotic gadgets shop.

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#3

Post by mnutt » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 3:11 PM UTC

Interesting story, though I don't understand what he says at the end about not being able to redirect the QR Code to another link because the QR Code is the link. Why not just send a 302 redirect?

He sounds like he wouldn't do it on principle, but I don't understand the technical reason why he couldn't.

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#4

Post by pilif » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 3:15 PM UTC

mnutt wrote: post #3

Interesting story, though I don't understand what he says at the end about not being able to redirect the QR Code to another link because the QR Code is the link. Why not just send a 302 redirect? He sounds like he wouldn't do it on principle, but I don't understand the technical reason why he couldn't.

Because then his blog would be unavailable? The code points to the root of his domain.

And even if he was willing to have his blog redirect to that other site, there's still the issue about all these other misprinted codes. If they point to $randomblog it's mostly funny. If they point (via the redirect) to $possible_competitor, it's much worse

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#5

Post by rpledge » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 3:16 PM UTC

mnutt wrote: post #3

Interesting story, though I don't understand what he says at the end about not being able to redirect the QR Code to another link because the QR Code is the link. Why not just send a 302 redirect? He sounds like he wouldn't do it on principle, but I don't understand the technical reason why he couldn't.

It points to his top level. He'd be sending traffic away from his site unless he managed to filter it somehow.

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#6

Post by eliaskg » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 3:26 PM UTC

I made the experience that it's never a good idea to point a QR code to a fixed domain. Always create a little redirect app where you can define later on what target the link should point on.

So for example point the link to http://mysite.com/qr

where you have a little redirection-php file that you can edit at all time.

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#7

Post by sp332 » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 3:33 PM UTC

eliaskg wrote: post #6

I made the experience that it's never a good idea to point a QR code to a fixed domain. Always create a little redirect app where you can define later on what target the link should point on. So for example point the link to http://mysite.com/qr where you have a little redirection-php file that you can edit at all time.

As a user, that would really annoy me. I like to know where I'm going before I put a URL in my browser.

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#8

Post by sp332 » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 3:42 PM UTC

Does anyone know of a FF plugin that will decode QR codes in images on a page, and maybe even turn them into live links? Here's one for Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bfdjglobiolninfgld...

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#9

Post by lysol » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 3:44 PM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #7

eliaskg wrote: post #6

I made the experience that it's never a good idea to point a QR code to a fixed domain. Always create a little redirect app where you can define later on what target the link should point on. So for example point the link to http://mysite.com/qr where you have a little redirection-php file that you can edit at all time.

As a user, that would really annoy me. I like to know where I'm going before I put a URL in my browser.

And if you care that much about the URL you should be able to infer from website.tld/qr that it's a QR code specific URL to track hits.

Re: Why does that QR Code go to justinsomnia.org?

#10

Post by sp332 » Sat, Jan 28, 2012, 3:46 PM UTC

lysol wrote: post #9

sp332 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a user, that would really annoy me. I like to know where I'm going before I put a URL in my browser.

And if you care that much about the URL you should be able to infer from website.tld/qr that it's a QR code specific URL to track hits.

But if it's a redirect, it could send me anywhere. That's what I don't like about it.