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A short link is a server placed between your reader and the page you sent them to. These articles explain what that server can see, what it can change after you hit send, and how to shorten a link without handing anyone a click log. Written in American English by the people who run the service, with our own logging described in the same detail as everyone else's.
Editorial guidelines explain how these pieces get researched, sourced, and corrected.
What forwrd.us logs when someone clicks your link
Every shortener sits in the path of every click, which makes it an analytics checkpoint whether it advertises itself as one or not. Rather than write another piece about other people's logging, here is ours: what a click writes to our database, what it does not, what our hosting layer sees before our code runs, how long any of it lives, and which parts we cannot promise away.
QR codes are short links printed as pixels
A QR code is not a technology for trust. It is a machine-readable string with no human-readable preview, which is exactly why quishing works on people who would never click the same URL in an email. Here is what a QR code actually encodes, why the phone camera layer is where the risk lives, and how to publish one without turning it into a permanent dependency on a company staying alive.
Link rot: what happens to your short links when the shortener dies
A short link is two dependencies stacked on top of each other. The destination has to stay up, and the redirector has to stay in business and stay interested. goo.gl, tr.im, and a long tail of vanity domains have already broken links inside published papers, printed packaging, and archived records. Here is how shortener death actually plays out, and how to shorten in a way that survives it.
How to check where a short link goes before you open it
The whole function of a short link is that it hides the destination, so the usual advice to read the URL before clicking does not apply. There are still reliable ways to resolve one without loading the page. Here is what works, what does not, and why an unfurled preview in a chat app is not the same as knowing where a link points.
Expiring links and click limits: when a short link should stop working
Most short links are immortal by default, which is the wrong default for a one-time invite, a password reset handoff, a webinar seat, or a document you only meant one person to open. Expiry dates and click caps are a small feature with real security value, and a few sharp edges worth knowing before you rely on them.