Show HN: A URL shortener that lets you change the destination source (linklee.xyz)
@deveshb15 and I built a URL shortener because the existing ones don't let you change the destination source once you create it.
The main benefit is really just the fact that once you claim a link, you don't need to claim another and you can change the destination that link leads to as many times as you want - we need this a lot and don't want to pay a monthly fee for this.
We used nextjs for frontend and backend, firebase for authentication and database, and used middleware in nextjs to the redirect url to desired location.
Give it a go and let me know if you have any feedback.
Thank you
11 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 46.3 ms ] threadIt's good that you found a way to scratch your personal itch.
As a prospective user, I'm concerned with the idea that a random third party who created the shorturl can change the links I consume to point to arbitrary destinations right from under my nose. I expect that my links are constant, and at most the destination does the redirecting. I feel that the potential to misuse this as an attack vector is too great for this to be an option.
By design, this URL shortener service does neither, and to me it feels too risky to even consider opening a link.
But that's just me. I'm sure plenty of people will find this useful.
domain 1: the shortURL goes directly to the destination site
domain 2: the shortURL takes you to a page that displays the destination URL. The user can opt to click on the destination url. It's a two-step process.
The few times I use an URL shortener, I always use domain2 because of the concerns raised by /u/chipdart. These are concerns I have myself.
Also... a couple of things:
When I was searching for a link shortener, I noted that all of them had a good deal of information about data collected, how/if they use the data, privacy, etc... I was really surprised by all the information collected. There's nothing on your site concerning this.
During my research it was clear that the first types of people that use these services are scammers, malicious people. They swarm new sites like these. They get blocked from other services and are constantly in search of new ones.
There were steps that operators took to make it difficult for these scammers to use the service. I forgot what most of the different strategies were. One person had a good write up about this (was it here on HN?). I remember that a sign-in requirement really helped (which you have).
The service looks useful, otherwise. I really like the idea of it. Good luck!
Of course we don't want the tool to be used by scammers or malicious people - so we'll do what's required to prevent that.
Thank you once again. Much appreciated.