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dumblonde dumblonde
 
M$2 March 22, 2009 06:21 PM

Should we allow people to link their sources using Adjix?

I've seen some answers in which the sources are adjix links. I find this annoying because you don't know what the source is first hand and if you click on it you see ads. It's also pretty obvious that the person who links it is getting some kind of payout. And it's prone to making people click on malicious or unknown sites.
Is this practice ok? What do you guys think? If you use Adjix feel free to defend yourself.
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jeffhoard jeffhoard
 
 March 22, 2009 06:33 PM
No. Its a form of spam since you are linking users to an advertisement which has hijacked an actual source.

We've discussed this internally and concluded that it lowers the quality of the service Mahalo Answers provides. We'd appreciate that if you do see somebody using adjix links to report the answer so that we can replace the spam with the legitimate link.

Mahalo is already offering money for the highest quality answers, so by posting advertisements within your answer, we feel, is a form of spam and probably also a form of gaming.
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nushka nushka
 
March 22, 2009 06:57 PM
What is Adjix? I mean, how do you know your link is hijacked?

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dumblonde dumblonde
 
March 22, 2009 07:01 PM
@nushka Adjix is a service like tinyurl that shortens addresses but at the same time inserts a frame with an ad. http://web.adjix.com/AdjixWhatIsIt.html
I think it's ANNOYING.

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jeffhoard jeffhoard
 
March 22, 2009 07:02 PM
@nushka adjix is a type of "tiny url" that replaces the actual url with an advertisement url, it then displays a pop-up type advertisement over the content.

So for example, if I wanted to link you to a CBS article and wanted to make money off you clicking on that article, I would replace the CBS url with an adjix url, sure you'll still see the CBS content, but the URL will be replaced (hijacked) by the adjix url.

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dumblonde dumblonde
 
March 22, 2009 07:04 PM
@jeffhoard What about non-ad services like tinyurl? They still hide the true URL in the link. I think it's eventually replaced with the real URL... Yet it still hides the source in the list.
But adjix is the worst, hands down.

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jeffhoard jeffhoard
 
March 22, 2009 07:33 PM
@dumblonde

As long as it doesn't "hijack" the link when you visit it, I even use tiny url services when the link is absurdly long. Most TinyUrl services still re-direct the user to the actual URL, adjix however does not

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33749589@N07/3375958601/

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robbrown robbrown
 
March 22, 2009 07:42 PM
Why doesn't Mahalo simply rewirte the Adjix URL's automatically on submit, Jeff?

It would be maybe 5 lines of code in a post-process function.

Thank goodness you guys have talked about this and are working to get rid of it. I have to think that it violates the "no affiliate URL's" section of the TOS in a round about sort of way.

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beni beni
 
March 22, 2009 08:19 PM
I agree with @robbrown that in general, URL shorteners should be allowed. I personally like http://is.gd and I'm using it a lot - especially in email. But Adjix links are clearly annoying and not helpful and the use of Adjix by Mahalo users may even violate TOS.

I'm always hesitant to click on a shortened URL because I don't really know where it leads me. But I agree with @jeffhoard that ridiculously long links don't look nice and sometimes, they even break Mahalo's layout or look really ugly.

It would be possible to automatically post-process the URLs entered by users. Not only could Adjix (and similar ones) be filtered and replaced with the real URL, long URLs could be automatically shortened by Mahalo.

I like the way this is done e.g. in http://plurk.com : If a shared link is longer than a certain number of characters (and also if longer than 140 characters), it will be automatically shortened and ends with three dots ... But the shortening remains transparent to the user who still can see the first 20 or so characters and get an idea where the URL is located.

Mahalo could also automatically shorten URLs that are longer than one line.

Let's try out if this URL is breaking Mahalo's layout (sorry!) It links to the Mahalo Answers homepage:

http://www.hugeurl.com/?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jasoncalac... jasoncalac...
 
March 24, 2009 07:37 AM
At some point we may come up with out own URL shortening service... yes. For now we will use the ones which are good to users and don't mask the URLs--let alone force an advertisement down people's throats.

AdJix is a little over the top. If you see it, report it.

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robbrown robbrown
 
March 22, 2009 07:39 PM
The CEO of Adjix and I had a conversation about the service here:
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/from-twitter/what-do-you-think-of-adjix-super-annoying-or-brilliant

To directly answer your question:

Yes. I think that Mahalo Answer users should be allowed to use any URL shortening service that they would like. However, I can certainly see why links from Adjix and other ad supported short URL sites should be removed.

While the Adjix service could be considered a source of spam and it does not add any value to to the content it is encapsulating, the service displays ads gracefully and is easily turned off by either the linker, webmaster or end user (adblock plus).

Adjix is VERY new. Since there are a limited number of ways to monetize twitter and direct link traffic, we're going to see Adjix like services become more popular in the coming weeks.

Remember that online advertising is currently undergoing a revolution. Ad sales across every medium are down. This is causing anyone who relies on advertising for income to become infinitely more creative in both the development and distribution of ads.

So, while I don't like Adjix and wish that the spammy evil sob's would go away, I don't want the Internet to change too drastically and maintaining advertising revenue is important. If nothing else, Adjix is taking a unique approach to monetize otherwise hard to convert traffic.

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