A short link for a profile bio or a chat: what to choose

Two lifetimes

A link sent in a chat is opened within the hour and forgotten. A link in a profile bio, a pinned post or an e-mail signature is opened for as long as the profile exists, by people who arrive from anywhere. The first is cheap to replace. The second is a promise.

A free link on this service lasts a week and then stops working. For a chat, that is more than enough. For a bio, the link would die while the profile is still handing it out.

What to choose

• For a chat or a message to one person: a free link. The waiting page shows the destination first, which also reassures the recipient.
• For a bio, a signature or a pinned post: a premium link. It lasts a year and opens straight to the destination; it is paid for with Monero and a pack key, with no account.
• For either: a custom alias, a short word that says what the link is. Aliases are lowercase and resolve in any case.

The words around the link matter as much as the link. WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.4 asks that the purpose of a link can be determined from its text, so say in the bio where the bare address leads.

Before it goes live

Open the link yourself, once, on a phone: check that the destination loads and that the preview page, if one appears, shows the address you expect.

Put a reminder in the calendar a few weeks before the year ends. A premium link can be renewed; once a link has expired it cannot be revived, and its code is never issued again.