[mygo]

DNS solved vanity memorable URLs, and continues to do so if someone is not looking for a .com

URL shorteners offering vanity urls solved people not needing to deal with the hassle of purchasing a vanity domain via a registrar, setting up DNS records, and waiting for propagation.

[JamesSwift]

Are you suggesting that instead of short.com/foo you register foo.mydomain.com and setup a reverse proxy to redirect? Isnt that just a url shortener with more steps? Why wouldn't I just setup my own shortener service instead and send a `POST` request when I want a new url?

[mygo]

> Isnt that just a url shortener with more steps?

URL shorteners came later, and solved the problem of people needing to deal with “more steps” in order to have short memorable urls. Achieving memorable urls in “less steps” is one of the major selling points of url shorteners.

However, url shorteners did not solve short memorable urls — DNS had already solved that. But, as you’ve pointed out, acquiring a domain and setting up DNS records takes more work than simply using a url shortener service.