> Can we get those terms defined for how they are being used here?
I think that's part of the problem. It really hasn't been defined. Both
redirectors and shorteners use HTTP and return 30x response codes such as:
301 Moved Permanently
302 Found
308 Permanent Redirect
etc.
Sometimes the target URL is encoded in the query parameters but sometimes
there's only a hash or token so you have to do an HTTP request to get it.
Shorteners always use a token because they're -- well -- short. But tokens are
also used in some URLs that are quite long.
So the obvious distinction is that shorteners are short. But regardless of
length, they all work the same way. Thus, we only need one plugin to handle
both.
The question is: Is one more "spammy" than the other? Do we need to score them
differently? Shorteners are generally provided by companies whose only purpose
is to shorten URLs. The purpose of short URLs is to make them easier for
humans. But spammers don't care about the length. They only care about the
redirect. So whether the redirect is from a "URL shortening company" or a
company that uses redirection for some other purpose, they both have the same
value to a spammer.
