Controlling Spam
One of the main purposes of ThnLnk is to create some credibility and accountability in URL shortening services. By including the domain name in the URL users can quickly check the “value” of a URL redirect based upon the domain.
So there is a bit of semantic and social protection against spam links. But it’s not perfect; people can still create “spam URLs” just for the HREF portion of links for some reason or another–perhaps just to obfuscate URLs.
I’m working on some heuristics to notify me about “spam-looking” URLs with a quick-and-dirty removal tool for spam links. So if you’re worried about ThnLnk aiding and abetting the world of Spamalot, then just know that we’re trying not to. And this is my commitment to try and stop spam.