Posting this since there seems to have been an uptick in malicious phishing link-posts recently and there's no reason for anyone legit to use bit.ly instead of the full URL in a post. Would it make sense to change to have bit.ly links filtered out by default with maybe the option for manual mod approval? Hell, do we even have an automod over here?
Some of these posts manage to stay up 8-12 hours and I'd rather users here weren't at risk of compromising their information security through a butterfingers click or a moment of retardation for such a long time.
There's no reason not to use archive.is over bit.ly here.
archive.is doesn't allow scripts to run, so you can't get a virus from it IIRC.
A more robust solution would be to give users the ability to filter posts and/or comments based on rep points and account age but don't set any default filtering.
Agreed, but I highly doubt we'll see that here.
That is less robust, not more. Nobody should ever post a hyperlink to a URL shortener anywhere on the internet. There is no reason to offer the ability for a bad actor to bypass this protection by compromising an existing account or farming rep.
Are there non-malicious uses of link shorteners? I've never seen one that wasn't sketchy.
They serve a legitimate purpose if it's not a hyperlink. If the user actually has to memorise and type in the URL - like if it's written on a poster - then having a shorter URL helps.
That's fair if people trust random posters sprinkled around, like the kind of person that plugs a parking lot USB stick into their work computer.