MASL: Make A Spammer's Life (easier)
Make A Shorter Link, the link-shortening service dreamt up by me, and created and maintained by my friends Matthew Hunt, Phil McCarthy and Edd Dumbill, is now closed to new links.
Why? Because it’s being abused by spammers, and we can’t devote the time required to secure it from their unwanted attentions. And because since we founded it, our lives have changed. We all changed jobs, changed careers, moved house (or even moved to the other side of the world). All of us have new priorities, or more important things to occupy our time. MASL needs attention that we can’t provide for it.
The spam reached boiling point during the Christmas holidays, so Edd switched off the new links feature. Shorter links you’ve created in the past will continue to work. We’re exploring options for long-term hosting and management of our database of shorter links, just like we said we would if and when this time ever came.
If you’re annoyed by MASL’s sudden closure, blame the spammers. And if you still need to create shorter links, there are plenty of other options for you.
Labels: tech
