Move over bit.ly and goo.gl!
December 15, 2009 12:15 PM   Subscribe

Huh. So because people were saying things with it that the GOP didn't like they are blocking some of the results. There are so many levels of irony here.

Off to make a shortened url to my site to see if it's GOP approved!
posted by cjorgensen at 12:20 PM on December 15, 2009

*Nelson laugh*
posted by brundlefly at 12:20 PM on December 15, 2009

.am ? What the fuck, that's armenia's tld. Maybe it's a confused play off of Will.i.am, but i.am was already taken?

Fuck, how can these people be so goddamn technologically inept and crush democracy so efficiently? Even worse, how can they used rigged computer voting machine to do it? There's some irony for you.

Well, anyway, I've got a terrible ringing in my ear and my vision's throbbing white points, so I'm going to lay down for a while.
posted by boo_radley at 12:24 PM on December 15, 2009 [7 favorites]

excuse me, Armenia. I meant no disrespect to the proud people of that noble land, other than the fact that they're associating with this weird idea.
posted by boo_radley at 12:25 PM on December 15, 2009

It also sports an animation of RNC chairman Michael Steele walking around on the lower right as if he’s showing off the website — particularly awkward when that website is the alt.com bondage site.

spit-take
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:26 PM on December 15, 2009 [3 favorites]

Like how they're alright with it if the link goes to "Barack Obama's page...or the communist page." I didn't know conservatives were still making that distinction.
posted by contessa at 12:26 PM on December 15, 2009

I just can't tell the difference anymore between conservatives and the people who are satirizing them.
posted by stavrogin at 12:26 PM on December 15, 2009 [8 favorites]

boo_radley: ".am ? What the fuck, that's armenia's tld. Maybe it's a confused play off of Will.i.am, but i.am was already taken?"

The association with AM radio? That seems a bit off. Maybe it's supposed to suggest "Amurica."
posted by brundlefly at 12:27 PM on December 15, 2009

boo_radley, if you can't understand the significance of something as basic as a gopam, there's no hope for you!
posted by mkultra at 12:28 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

The website is back online late Tuesday morning PST, and the company that designed the site in collaboration with the Republican National Committee plans to add an automatic filtering system to help with the high volume of what its president calls “pornographic, lewd” or “hateful” URLs being added to its service.

Why do they hate freedom?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:28 PM on December 15, 2009 [5 favorites]

(worth the click for the rotating banner images)

This is 100% true.
posted by xbonesgt at 12:29 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

How many layers of resolution do you think'll do? Like if I link bondage site x through goo.gl, will they check goog's redirected url?
posted by boo_radley at 12:30 PM on December 15, 2009 [5 favorites]

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing: Why do they hate freedom?

I'm more curious why the RNC has a giant list of porn URL's. And more importantly, why they're not sharing it.
posted by mkultra at 12:32 PM on December 15, 2009 [7 favorites]

Self-link, but you need to see the ugly! They frame the content with about 20% of their branding, and if there is a "remove this frame" button I am not seeing it. I have also reported the above URL as abuse, so see how long it stays up.

And I love that when you click the link in the bottom frame: http://gop.am/politicalmedia.com

You get:

The page you were looking for doesn't exist.

You may have mistyped the address or the page may have moved.

Oh boy.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:35 PM on December 15, 2009

From the PoliticalMedia site's banner ads:

What is your outreach strategy?
"I spend a few hours on myspace.com everyday." -- Grim, slightly creepy Businessman
"We troll the blogosphere for a good debate." -- An elderly couple in the eerie glow of a monitor.

Come on. This has to be one big joke.
posted by stavrogin at 12:35 PM on December 15, 2009 [11 favorites]

This reminds me of the excellent 2004 sloganator site which took off on the GOP request for ideas for Bush Cheney campaign slogans Some of the suggestions from pranksterland:


Bush/Cheney '04: Compassionate Colonialism

Bush/Cheney '04: Because the truth just isn't good enough

Bush/Cheney '04: Deja-voodoo all over again!

Bush/Cheney '04: Four More Wars

Bush/Cheney '04: Leave no billionaire behind

Bush/Cheney '04: Making the world a bitter place, one country at a
time

Bush/Cheney '04: Over a billion Whoppers served

Bush/Cheney '04: Putting the "con" in conservatism

Bush/Cheney '04: Thanks for not paying attention

Bush/Cheney '04: The last vote you'll ever have to cast

Bush/Cheney '04: This time, elect us!
posted by bearwife at 12:36 PM on December 15, 2009 [7 favorites]

I guess if you're going to build a link shortener that follows you to websites and tracks your habits you might as well target a proven inept audience.
posted by graventy at 12:36 PM on December 15, 2009

Here's a link to this thread. I have also reported it!
posted by cjorgensen at 12:36 PM on December 15, 2009 [6 favorites]

I also get a real kick out of those funny internet videos.
posted by gottabefunky at 12:37 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

I tested it out yesterday with a link to the Epic MeFi Sarah Palin Thread: http://gop.am/cG7T and they haven't taken it down, just put it in a big red frame.

I think it's great to link to informative and challenging content in a way that RightWingNuts might otherwise never click on.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:38 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

brundlefly: "The association with AM radio?"

oh my god this makes sense

it's like, they'd have gop.telegraph if they could, because it would be comforting

gop.us seems to be squatted to some dude in texas.
posted by boo_radley at 12:39 PM on December 15, 2009

This is why we can't have nice things.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:41 PM on December 15, 2009

Oh yeah, Balloon Juice had a LOT of fun with this.

JC: With Allah as my witness, the animated Michael Steele was saying “Notice something different?” as I took that screen grab.
JSF: The bound victim is an adult?
b: Umm, what’s a wetsuit without a dildo? After all, it’s supposed to be a GOP website.
awsp: This is really pissing off the liberals. So many keyboards ruined with liquid refreshments.
L: "If you use it for spamming, illegal purposes or to promote lude content, your GOP.AM URL will be disabled." "No Quaaludes for you!" snarls the Methaqualone Nazi.

posted by maudlin at 12:43 PM on December 15, 2009

***** OFFICIAL REPUBLICAN PARTY MEMORANDUM *****

GOP.com and RELATED SITES BRANDING GUIDE

1) Do not spend too much time thinking of a name for your site, blog, subsite, newsletter, or mimeographed pamphlet to hand out at the Elks meeting. WHATEVER YOU THINK OF FIRST, THAT'S IT. STICK TO YOUR GUNS. GOP.am? Great, fuck it, that's the name.

2) Professional designers are art fag liberals. Call your nephew and get him to make the logo. Just cram some elephant or walrus clipart in the O. Boom, done.

3) It is a waste to come up with ideas. Wait for the Democrats to do something, and then do it sometime the next year. None of us even know what the fuck a URL is anyway or why it should be shortened. [Tim: is this an AOL keyword? - Mike]

4) Two words, folks: YouTube comments. This is where we'll really be focusing our energy over the next twenty years. As YouTube comments become the dominant communication paradigm, we'll be there with the age and the credibility to win the culture war. The month let's see if we can talk about NObama's socialist policies in every video's comments, even the ones about repairing drywall holes.

Your "bro,"

Michael Steele
keyword: mike on mygop.com
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:43 PM on December 15, 2009 [29 favorites]

So that Political Media site isn't a parody? They fooled me.
posted by yeti at 12:43 PM on December 15, 2009

Where's the Michael Steele animation? I don't see it and I'm disappointed.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:46 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

wow it really is ugly and it keeps embedding the toolbar if you click on a link again.
posted by bhnyc at 12:47 PM on December 15, 2009 [3 favorites]

Okay, maybe I'm stupid... actually that's probably no longer at issue, but what the hell are they talking about? How can a URL shortener be conservative? Or liberal, or libertarian, or transhumanist or anything else? It takes long, unwieldy URLs and proxies them with a shorter URL that's easier to cut and paste or fit into twitter. What's conservative about that? Was it shortening URLs to "McCain/Palin10#$922" or something? Why would a political party conceive of doing this in the first place?
posted by Naberius at 12:49 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

This one is pretty nice. Found it on Wonkette. Let's see how long it lasts.
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:49 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

on the other hand they have ubiquity commands, so....
posted by boo_radley at 12:50 PM on December 15, 2009

wow it really is ugly and it keeps embedding the toolbar if you click on a link again.

"I wish there was a way to create the effect of dual panels that each take up a quarter of my screen, preferably in a garish, screaming red. But how?"
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:50 PM on December 15, 2009 [4 favorites]

It's true. You can click the link about four times before the frame takes up the entire screen. Really, it's sort of awesome.
posted by stoneweaver at 12:51 PM on December 15, 2009

>How can a URL shortener be conservative?

I guess their argument is that they are tight and efficient with characters, like they claim they are with our tax dollars. Granted, if you've read about the Bush II or Reagan years, that analogy falls flat on its face.
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:51 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

"I spend a few hours on myspace.com everyday." -- Grim, slightly creepy Businessman
"We troll the blogosphere for a good debate." -- An elderly couple in the eerie glow of a monitor.

Come on. This has to be one big joke.


I ....hope so?
posted by The Whelk at 12:51 PM on December 15, 2009

Go, Pam!
posted by oinopaponton at 12:52 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

It's only a matter of time until Michael Steele ends up putting up a video or animation that is indistinguishable from the 4chan Xzibit meme (i.e., "yo dawg i put an x in your y so you could z").
posted by zombieflanders at 12:52 PM on December 15, 2009

I thought we got rid of ugly frames like this when Geocities was destroyed with shock and glee.
That IS ugly, and your page is decidedly pretty in it's unadulterated form.
also, I am looking, but seeing no "remove frame", like all the other services like this have... looks like once you catch the GOP, you've got it for life.
This link short'ner... It's so we can KNOW what to devote bile to right? right?
posted by infinite intimation at 12:55 PM on December 15, 2009

The Whelk: "We troll the blogosphere for a good debate." -- An elderly couple in the eerie glow of a monitor. Come on. This has to be one big joke.

Maybe, but the picture of LGF in my mind's eye just got a lot funnier.
posted by mkultra at 12:55 PM on December 15, 2009

Ugh, why? Like, seriously...who do they plan on attracting this way? Do they think people who donate money to the RNC will really feel this is a useful and productive product? It's like someone approached them, said "Web 2.0" and they just threw money at it.
posted by toekneebullard at 12:57 PM on December 15, 2009

I'm thinking http://gop.am/sJir is pretty accurate
posted by cirhosis at 12:58 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Political Media’s Ward told Wired.com he saw the pranks coming a mile away. “Believe me, we were well aware that this was going to happen,” he said. “We’ve been on the internet doing business for every aspect of it since 1996. I was well aware exactly what was going to happen.”

And that's exactly why you decided not to block porn sites with it! Brilliant! Because if you did block them, then that would stop a lot of pranks, and then the pranks you saw coming a mile away wouldn't happen, and you wouldn't look so smart! And competent!

Like you look right now.
posted by ignignokt at 12:58 PM on December 15, 2009 [8 favorites]

Ok, I clicked a link into the GOP... now I am TRAPPED in the GOP!
could this all be a big.. Tra nawww, that would be silly, what does the net know about traps..
Can we get a new second party yet? This is seeming more and more like Timmothy Findley's "last of the crazy people" more and more each day... sad, annoying, disheartening, counterproductive, bad for the country, and most of all, not good for the Other party we have... The Blues, without a second party that isn't just crazy and angry is not going to be pushed to make the GOOD changes we need.
posted by infinite intimation at 1:01 PM on December 15, 2009

My favorite political media.com banner:

Scruffy guy next to brick wall: “I donate six figures every year to support my causes”

So this guy in an alleyway donates at least $100,000 to charity every year? Fuck me I’m poor
posted by Think_Long at 1:02 PM on December 15, 2009 [3 favorites]

It even runs on pages with the banner already added.

This may be the best Hanukkah gift ever. Thanks, GOP! I knew you guys were friends of Israel, but I didn't think you'd give something so awesome to a goy like me!
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:03 PM on December 15, 2009 [5 favorites]

Interesting the .am registry reserves the right to refuse or revoke domains that violate strict obscenity laws in Armenia. I wonder if a list of several of the more interesting examples could get their domain revoked...
posted by cirhosis at 1:07 PM on December 15, 2009

GOP.am: Because everything on the internet wasn't ugly enough.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:09 PM on December 15, 2009

You know, I could program this. In my sleep. And I'm the 4,763rd best programmer on Metafilter. I think I could check to see if the frame is already loaded, even. I also wouldn't leave off the "remove frame" button.*

* We've all sat in that meeting, right? The one where you have a marketing droid sitting there saying "but we don't want people to be able to remove the frame. They're not going to want to remove the frame."
posted by maxwelton at 1:13 PM on December 15, 2009 [5 favorites]

You know, I could program this. In my sleep. I know more about programming Republican URL-shorteners than you could possibly imagine.
posted by explosion at 1:17 PM on December 15, 2009

If you mix this with this, you can instantly create a legit-looking new homepage for the GOP.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:18 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

Maybe the best part is that you can't ever leave the frame, and the frame hijacks the page title, so all of your tabs look exactly like one another and surfing becomes a bright-screaming-red version of Memory.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:20 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

YTMND
The Hamster Dance
All Your Base
posted by kirkaracha at 1:21 PM on December 15, 2009

Wait, doesn't metafilter have a policy against url shorteners? Poor cortex is going to have to cut & paste a lot of porn sites in this thread!
posted by cjorgensen at 1:22 PM on December 15, 2009

So, will this all raise any stats of the viewership of "gop.com" or anything that they run? If they knew that it would get punked, and they knew it was stupid, was this just to boost the stats for their site, so they can say, look, everyone in the WORLD is interested in the ideas that the GOP has to share?

Finally, you, good gentleperson, have created a GOP website that doesn't use any of the filler, and gets to the CRUX of the modern platform!!!
posted by infinite intimation at 1:22 PM on December 15, 2009

Wait, if the GOP is running a URL shortener for something other than making a profit and competing fairly in a free market, how will this stand up to ad supported sites like TinyURL? Isn't this interfering with the free market?
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:24 PM on December 15, 2009

As usual, RedState is a little slow to realize when they've been had.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:26 PM on December 15, 2009

No, I think this is a case of Republican integrity. They could have added a list of embarrassing pages, or even used a free list of porn sites online. There's more than a few open source net nannies, after all.

Instead, Michael Steele decided he would treat Americans like they were adults, and extend the trust of the GOP to them.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:32 PM on December 15, 2009

mccarty.tim: "Michael Steele decided he would treat Americans like they were adults"

Mistake.
posted by brundlefly at 1:35 PM on December 15, 2009

Why did I click on a link clearly labeled goatse?
posted by stavrogin at 1:39 PM on December 15, 2009 [22 favorites]

Okay, maybe I'm stupid... actually that's probably no longer at issue, but what the hell are they talking about? How can a URL shortener be conservative?

My first reaction as well. It's sorta explained in the Wired link: they take the end page and frame it with their own advertising and stuff.

Which might sound like a brilliant idea to them, and to the people they convince to use it, but it's surely going to seriously annoy their target audience (presumably, floating voters who click on the shortened URL's).
posted by Infinite Jest at 1:40 PM on December 15, 2009

Damn That Television: goatse

I didn't click, and haven't in years, but is the original goatse.cx still up? If so, that's pretty remarkable.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:51 PM on December 15, 2009

The trolls are having fun on twitter. Search for GOP.am, and see the republicans in denial about it, and the trolls who actually do a decent job playing with it.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:59 PM on December 15, 2009

The links that we’re going to edit are the pornographic ones, the lewd ones – obviously those type of links or anything that is overtly … hateful, we’re going to remove those.

Covertly hateful, however, no problem there, sign us up.
posted by Errant at 2:02 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

I think they blocked me for having too much fun. Downforeveryoneorjustme says it's still up.
posted by mccarty.tim at 2:04 PM on December 15, 2009

I don't know what this looks like to an American who is more used to the red / blue symbolism, but the first association I'd get from those huge red borders would be Communist propaganda, especially with those soft-focus rays focusing on the emblem in the center of the bars.

Oh, and did anyone else feel the air quotes when watching that wonderful banner?

We're "trolling" the "blogosphere" for a good debate.
Sure, grandma and grandpa. What's your handle, ConservaTagTeamFlamer1922?

I get a real "kick" out of those funny "internet" "videos".
First talkies, now this. Will wonders never cease?

Knock on my "door". I respond to the "personal touch".
Wait, what?
posted by PontifexPrimus at 2:05 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

Let me preface this by saying that I am deeply, deeply ashamed of myself. http://gop.am/qVZ9
posted by JeffK at 2:11 PM on December 15, 2009 [18 favorites]

If anyone else got banned, they let proxies right through. You'd think the GOP would want it to be US only, but Chinese, Canadian, and all other proxies got right through. Have these people made any webpages before?

If they can't keep trolls off of their page, how can we trust them to keep immigrants out of our borders?THETRUTHSANDWICHEDBETWEENTWOHAMBURGERBUNS
posted by mccarty.tim at 2:18 PM on December 15, 2009

Go Pam!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:20 PM on December 15, 2009

GOP.am + hammerandsteele.com = FUN

http://gop.am/pfUm
posted by chasing at 2:31 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

http://gop.am/pfUm, I mean.
posted by chasing at 2:31 PM on December 15, 2009

shakespeherian: "I didn't click, and haven't in years, but is the original goatse.cx still up? If so, that's pretty remarkable."

It isn't, though you can find goatse at his new home over at http://goatse.asia.
posted by flatluigi at 2:39 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

Imagine being goatse guy. Everyone knows what the first eight inches of your colon looks like but no one has seen your face.

He could be that guy making your sandwich right now.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:43 PM on December 15, 2009 [3 favorites]

He could be that guy making your sandwich right now.

But I just made my own sandwich. But perhaps I've said too much.
posted by maxwelton at 2:50 PM on December 15, 2009 [7 favorites]

Do you have a wedding ring?
posted by shakespeherian at 2:53 PM on December 15, 2009

OK, seriously, fuck URL shorteners. They're a blight on the internet. bit.ly exists only for the sake of Twitter and ironically the 140-char limit is only relevant to maintaining SMS compatibility where urls are most likely to be ignored. They're a haven for spammers and scammers. Use a real URL, ffs.
posted by GuyZero at 3:35 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

We’ve been on the internet doing business for every aspect of it since 1996.

Really? Is it just me, or are the links on the GOP.am bar all broken? They spit out code like this:

http://openx.psyclonewms.com/www/delivery/ck.php?n=adba64de&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE

Also, the credit link, "GOP.am is a property of Political Media, Inc." is incorrectly formatted, lacking the http://, so you get http://gop.am/politicalmedia.com, which results in page not found.

Additionally, the only way I know what site I'm seeing is to look at the source code, or when my browser blocks a site and tells me the URL.

ignignokt - And that's exactly why you decided not to block porn sites with it! Brilliant!

Except we're all spending time talking about it. Those who think the stereotypical Republican is a scumbag hasn't changed their minds, those on the border might shift for or against (either "hey, they're trying to get online, bully good for them!" or "those idiots are messing it up again"), and those who support the Republicans might just get more involved to help straighten things out.

Or not. However it falls, they're getting more attention than they would if it worked properly. If that was the case, they'd be lost in the crowd of shorteners.

OK, seriously, fuck URL shorteners. They're a blight on the internet. bit.ly exists only for the sake of Twitter ...

... and those who cannot easily post URLs that are over X characters long, due to links getting broken and whatnot.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:43 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

>

At first I didn't know what you were saying. Then I saw it; shat bricks.
posted by mccarty.tim at 3:52 PM on December 15, 2009

The association with AM radio?"

Interestingly, GOP.fm is giving me static.
posted by me3dia at 3:53 PM on December 15, 2009

All you suckers are stuck in the stone age, I'm subscribed to GOP.sirius
posted by Think_Long at 3:54 PM on December 15, 2009

OK, seriously, fuck URL shorteners. They're a blight on the internet. bit.ly exists only for the sake of Twitter and ironically the 140-char limit is only relevant to maintaining SMS compatibility where urls are most likely to be ignored. They're a haven for spammers and scammers. Use a real URL, ffs.

Spammers enjoy using everything that lots of people enjoy using, because that's where all the people are. I like URL shorteners because character limits exist on Twitter, and also because http://www.blogggyblog.com/hey-check-out-this-article-its-really-well-written-but-the-rendered-URL-is-hideously-long can be neatly condensed. Besides which, getting around spammer use of shortend URLs is pretty easy.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:04 PM on December 15, 2009

GOP opens internet service, starts censoring it immediately.
posted by breath at 5:04 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

also because http://www.blogggyblog.com/hey-check-out-this-article-its-really-well-written-but-the-rendered-URL-is-hideously-long can be neatly condensed.

Who cares? Are you being charged by the byte? Are you copying URLs out on post-it notes? Note that pre-tinyurl.com the internet worked just fine.
posted by GuyZero at 5:18 PM on December 15, 2009

http://gop.am/Jkwv WOO PARTY
posted by 31d1 at 6:12 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

GuyZero: Who cares? Are you being charged by the byte? Are you copying URLs out on post-it notes? Note that pre-tinyurl.com the internet worked just fine.

Interestingly, they give you "before" and "after" character counts of your URLs, as if somehow these long URLs are somehow clogging up the Tubes and they're out there working hard to Eliminate Waste.
posted by mkultra at 6:30 PM on December 15, 2009

Here are mine that are still up (one on "The Top 5 Republican Gay Sex Scandals" has gone down already):

http://gop.am/DOpw
http://gop.am/qKo3
http://gop.am/UxVz
http://gop.am/DVRx

(These are all pretty NSFW, except the last one which is just a Wikipedia link)
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:06 PM on December 15, 2009

It's good to know the GOP is the party of small government URLs.
posted by armage at 7:13 PM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

>
You should work for the GOP. That's 10000% better than the existing slogan. It'd even fit nicely.

GOP: Small Government... Small URLs
posted by mccarty.tim at 7:42 PM on December 15, 2009

We should start a political party and host it at GOP.fm. Nobody's using it, and we could probably buy it for cheap.
posted by mccarty.tim at 7:47 PM on December 15, 2009

Who cares? Are you being charged by the byte? Are you copying URLs out on post-it notes?

I use bit.ly because I feed on the rage of others.
posted by verb at 8:23 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Interestingly, GOP.fm is giving me static.

FM? No static at all.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:01 PM on December 15, 2009

I still don't believe that Political Media site isn't a parody or some joke. Seriously, those banners could have come straight from The Onion.
posted by like_neon at 2:45 AM on December 16, 2009 [2 favorites]

That people actually rage about URL shorteners is news to me. Maybe you should relax by watching some of those funny internet videos. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to troll the blogosphere for a- ok, I can't do it. The last time I heard "blogosphere" used without irony, my browser was Netscape and tiled outer space backgrounds were the cutting edge of site design. Join my webring!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:12 AM on December 16, 2009

I think the GOP got punked by Political Media.

As for the URL shortener rage, I assume it's because people don't know what they're getting. A while back I got pranked into clicking onto this when TF2's Meet the Spy video was about to come out. As it was tinyurl'd, I never stood a chance. Which is exactly how the republican party is getting trolled with this new service!

What's great is that some republican tweeters are using the GOP URL shortener sincerely (for example, linking to "100 Reasons Global Warming is Not Man Made"). This means the trolling will work doubly well, as republicans think they are getting something with A) Conservative ideology, and B) what is promised by the surrounding tweet.
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:36 AM on December 16, 2009

Clicking random links from people you don't know is never a good idea, but longurl reveals what's behind a shortened URL. Might even be a script for that, too. The rage just makes me shrug. But then, yeah, little things can piss me off, too, like people who say "Good morning!" cheerfully, and then repeat it if you don't answer beyond a cursory nod and grunt.

I sent a gop.am link to my dad, who's almost 60. His response: "From the people who hotlinked MySpace images," refering to McCain's 2004 (?) ownage.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:10 AM on December 16, 2009 [2 favorites]

I think we can all agree that MStPT's dad is awesome.
posted by verb at 1:29 PM on December 16, 2009