PSA: How to scrub your URLs before posting and why it matters

[Hekate]

6. Kick. Rec. Bookmark. Scrubbing URLs....

Thanks!

PSA: How to scrub your URLs before posting and why it matters

WHY IT MATTERS: I’ll start here. All those weird characters in a URL mean and do something. They are parameters for behavioral and advertising trackers, and they send data to third-party databases for everyone who clicks the link. One reason we become DU star members is to avoid the advertising — and by extension, ad tracking — that otherwise funds DU. Not cleaning the URLs you post sort of subverts that.

HOW TO SCRUB A URL BEFORE YOU POST IT
1. Paste your URL into a DU post while composing but before you post it.
2. Locate the question mark near the front of the URL.
3. Select and delete the question mark and everything after it.
4. Copy the clean URL and paste it over your “dirty” URL.

EXAMPLE DIRTY URL
(URL fixed to not embed the tweet and spaced to show where trackers start) All the BOLD stuff here are the tracking parameters:
https [colon whack whack] x [dot] com/GaryPetersonUSA/status/1834561559210704969 ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1834561559210704969%7Ctwgr%5Ec3db9ef910d3c46e40c0e3ca36296f6015f8dcd7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.miaminewtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fis-trump-having-an-affair-with-laura-loomer-the-far-right-extremist-21281352

SAME URL BUT SCRUBBED
https [colon whack whack] x [dot] com/GaryPetersonUSA/status/1834561559210704969