[dangus]

I think the problem with URL shorteners like Google’s that includes the company name is that to the layperson there is possibly an implied level of safety.

Here is a service that basically makes Google $0 and confuses a non-zero amount of non-technical users when it sends them to a scam website.

Also, in the age of OCR on every device they make basically no sense. You can take a picture of a long URL on a piece of paper then just copy and paste the text instantly. The URL shortener no longer serves a discernible purpose.

[cbarrick]

Shorter URLs mean fewer characters to encode in a QR code.

[dangus]

And how does that matter? The QR gets read either way.

[kiicia]

No, code is smaller and more readable, also shortener means additional tracking layer

[cbarrick]

Less complex QR codes are easier to scan, especially at a distance