Google Warns: bit.ly Links Are Unsafe

Post by paulhauggis » Sat, Oct 25, 2014, 2:33 PM UTC

leephillips wrote: post #40

petercooper wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sibling replies are mostly a load of bollocks. E-mail based publishers track clicks anyway through much better means, such as Mailchimp's click tracking - no reputable sender needs to use bit.ly to track stuff. The reason bit.ly links can end up in mails is if third parties want to track clicks separate from the sender and the sender isn't smart enough to catch it. For example, people who want to include a job li…

Above you said that you didn't sent spam because your recipients opted in. OK. Now you say that these email newsletters contain third-party advertising. You're sending paid advertising in an email. I would consider that to be spam, even if I opted in to your newsletter. I accept the fact that not everyone would define it that way, but I hope you see my point.

Post by tdumitrescu » Sat, Oct 25, 2014, 2:51 PM UTC

tux3 wrote: post #26

petercooper wrote: post #4

Google is definitely not a fan. I send a lot of email each month (it's my business) and having bit.ly links in mail is a fast track to Gmail's spam folder or, in some cases, being rejected entirely. (Note: I'm talking bulk mail, not personal mail.)

If you're sending spam, it's only appropriate that it goes in the spam folder. It seems to me that google is doing a good job, here.

Post by ipsin » Sat, Oct 25, 2014, 3:01 PM UTC

paulhauggis wrote: post #50

I feel like Google does this many times to hurt the competition.

Post by unshort » Sat, Oct 25, 2014, 4:07 PM UTC

Aoyagi wrote: post #43

elwell wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what if we're dealing with a bitly within a bitly? A 'bitly-ception'? It's bitly's all the way down... Does unshort.me recursively check? (Oh, and what if the bitly goes to an unmarked, safe-looking site with a js redirect or etc.?)

I believe unshort.me "unshorts" it all the way. I have no tested it as I'm a lazy useless individual, but feel free to try it out. Edit: OK, I just did a quick test, "unshorting" t.co link that hides a bit.ly link gives the final link.

Post by frostmatthew » Sat, Oct 25, 2014, 4:24 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #48

frostmatthew wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I send mail to 200,000 subscribers who double opted in and want to receive the mail Google has no way of knowing that.

They do. It is called IP reputation, and is the main reason your inbox is mostly spam-free: Google (and all the other large mail providers) keep reputation scores for IPs / IP blocks, based on what volume of ham/spam they send, and for the larger commercial senders they outsource anti-spam management by saying "Hey MSA: here are the minimum requirements for email getting relayed to Google customers. Ensure your custo…