Regarding URL shorteners such as Bit.ly, 2k38.net and goo.gl (Google’s URL shortener services), is.gd, ow.ly and tinyurl.com, services designed to redirect to a different, typically longer, URL.
- They are nearly mandatory when posting a URL via Twitter (or other microblogging site).
- They can get your email dropped by a SPAM filter, since URL redirection (URL forwarding, URL obfuscation) is how malicious sites get past SPAM filters.
- A URL shortener service takes links out of your control; many of the free URL shortener services have already shut down.
You want to know if you can trust that web site, and a meaningless link doesn’t help. Note that you should always treat any link you may see in an email or web page as meaningless; there is no reason to trust that what the link connects to the text displayed.
Instead of HpHosts as your first step (my advice from Can You Trust That Web Site?), go to vURL. vURL reveals and expands the redirected web site. You can learn what the obfuscated URL will lead you to (and examine the code) without directly connecting to the web site. Then learn if the revealed web site is trustworthy at HpHosts.
