(OT) Life span of tinyurls?

Dan Daniel said:

Does anyone know what the life span is of a 'tiny url'
link? Do they expire after a set period of time?

I ask because I see many links posted as just the 'tiny
url' and wonder what will happen in a month, six months, a
year. Will the 'tiny url' link still be active, or is the
link lost to anyone looking through the archive of, say, a
newsgroup?

Interesting question -- went on a little non-scientific
research effort. Search the google archives using the term
"tinyurl.com" and found the earliest date to be from 3 Feb,
2002. The link still worked. I tried a few others and most
worked fine. Their copywrite banner states 2002 to 2004 so I
doubt there's any chance of finding anything prior.

Interestingly enough, the earliest link I could find was
this: tinyurl.comoOpen ↗ which links to a unicyle shop
(.....he writes as he skillfully brings the thread almost
back on topic.)

Tom

In article <fs6Dc.25503$cj3.7269@lakeread01>,

tcmedara said:

Dan Daniel said:

Does anyone know what the life span is of a 'tiny url'
link? Do they expire after a set period of time?

I ask because I see many links posted as just the 'tiny
url' and wonder what will happen in a month, six months,
a year. Will the 'tiny url' link still be active, or is
the link lost to anyone looking through the archive of,
say, a newsgroup?

Interesting question -- went on a little non-scientific
research effort. Search the google archives using the
term "tinyurl.com" and found the earliest date to be
from 3 Feb, 2002. The link still worked. I tried a few
others and most worked fine. Their copywrite banner
states 2002 to 2004 so I doubt there's any chance of
finding anything prior.

Tinyurl themselves says the links are permanent.
Whether the referenced page will outlast the tinyurl is
another question.

Quoted message said:

Interestingly enough, the earliest link I could find was
this: tinyurl.comoOpen ↗ which links to a unicyle shop
(.....he writes as he skillfully brings the thread almost
back on topic.)

Yes. Parts of that unicycle site are probably a great number
of the early Tinyurls, since I think one of the creators was
a unicyclist. tinyurl.com/1 (0 doesn't work) points at
Gilby's site.

More topically, behold a...two-wheeled unicycle.

gilby.com2wheelerOpen ↗

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club