Our latest new members have been using URL (web address) shorteners
such as Bitly
Here is an explanation of Bitly
https://techforluddites.com/bitly-wh...do-you-use-it/
One of the attractions on top of shortening is
you can track the bitlinks you create to see how often they’re shared and clicked on as well as some demographic information about the people doing the sharing and clicking. You can also create bitlinks with custom URLs that are easier to remember than the random letters and numbers created by Bitly
Among others the likes/hits generation love them
They no doubt have their use for really long web addresses that you might want to link (esp on Twitter etc) but being a tech dummie I always like to be careful about what I open
Posters cannot be sure where a link
Photos of my girlfriend
is taking them. As a moderator I can see the actual address without opening it