[clug] Snowdrift.coop

[Tony Lewis]

On 3/12/2014 1:38 PM, Scott Ferguson wrote:
> On 3 December 2014 at 11:04, Eyal Lebedinsky <eyal at eyal.emu.id.au> wrote:
>> Unless the post is about a widely understood subject there should be *some*
>> hint regarding what the link is about.
>
>> I am uneasy clicking on email links that I have no idea about.
> I'm sorry to hear that.
> [curious] Is that just email links or links in general - if not the latter, why?
>
> I don't understand your problem (I can be a bit thick) - could you
> expand on that please?

Pardon me jumping in, but...

Security, for one.  Convenience for another.

Security: The other end of that link could have malware, NSFW material 
or Rick Astley.  It might come from you, or it might be someone 
impersonating you.  It's considerate behaviour to give your recipients a 
clue to what they're getting in for, and if nothing else, putting some 
context lends credence that the link is genuinely from you and not from 
someone impersonating you.

Convenience: it might be a 400MB streamed video which will start 
automatically and I might be using my mobile data plan.  Help me decide 
whether it's something worth looking at now, later or at all.

> Have you considered Googling the link or would the same reasons for
> your uneasiness still apply?

I do do this if there is no explanation, but it would be nice for us to 
not have to do that (x 100s of recipients) vs the originator explaining 
once.

As a general comment, shortening services (t.co, bitly) have much to 
answer for in this :|

Tony