I'm back, also YouTube has an annoying new thing for all of us to be forced to care about.

No different to links in 90% of other places. The Breaking Defense link I just posted in the F-35 thread is (minus the domain to stop it being treated as a link):
"/2025/05/f55-f22-f47-trump-wants-a-twin-engined-f35-experts-say-its-not-feasible/?utm_campaign=Breaking%20Defense%20Air%20&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8HjgtD_UF6CF_-tmVfxSoHznfvH6T-x55MQOlorLzKaC05wJXQlBHdcCc8cV3jnoX1loSGSd0_X_HmG2x_-K5bnuIq1Q&_hsmi=361826209&utm_content=361826209&utm_source=hs_email"

It only needs ""/2025/05/f55-f22-f47-trump-wants-a-twin-engined-f35-experts-say-its-not-feasible/" to function, everything else is different varieties of tracking.
 
dannydale said:
Ya, I wonder if forum software can be made to highlight any occurrences of ? in a link and suggest removal of everything past that? Sounds like an 'easy to say hard to do' kinda programming dealio.
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Turns out that there are browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox that strip UTM Tags . I have no idea if they are safe and effective. Use the search terms "utm tag stripping browser extension" to find.
 
Ideally, a link contains just the information necessary to access the web page pointed to - nothing else. The superfluous strings in links make for unreadable text when they are included in messages or documents. I have a spreadsheet of my collection of dvds/blurays, with imdb-links to the movies/series on them. I strip those links to contain just enough information to get to the right page.
That is largely an esthetic consideration.

More importantly, this:
DWG said:
It only needs ""/2025/05/f55-f22-f47-trump-wants-a-twin-engined-f35-experts-say-its-not-feasible/" to function, everything else is different varieties of tracking.
Click to expand...
 
Arjen said:
Ideally, a link contains just the information necessary to access the web page pointed to - nothing else. The superfluous strings in links make for unreadable text when they are included in messages or documents. I have a spreadsheet of my collection of dvds/blurays, with imdb-links to the movies/series on them. I strip those links to contain just enough information to get to the right page.
That is largely an esthetic consideration.

More importantly, this:
Click to expand...
As a good old fashioned vintage real world non electronic aerospace engineer still trying to understand in simple terms what this brouhaha that makes "all of us to be forced to care about" is, wtf gives? Are we now coerced to buy trumpcoin? Mods, please, enlighten me in simple terms!
 
It is part of the setup where this rule applies: if a commercial provider's item is offered for free, the item user's information is the product. Which makes me cautious to take up their offer. Who collects that information, to which end?
@martinbayer I am of the same generation as you.

@dannydale Welcome back.
 
Arjen said:
It is part of the setup where this rule applies: if a commercial provider's item is offered for free, the item user's information is the product. Which makes me cautious to take up their offer. Who collects that information, to which end?
@martinbayer I am of the same generation as you.
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Hello Arjen, thank you for your clarification(?)! I can honestly say though that any and all more or less constructive remarks I publicly divulge on this forum are intended to reach as large as possible of a forum/auditorium/audience, so I am *STILL* confused as to exactly what the collection issue pertains to - I most positively *WANT* any and all of my statements to be recorded for posterity - what am I missing or misunderstanding in this thread???
 
The innocent have nothing to hide somehow stops short of me hanging a webcam in my bathroom, or tolerating a webcam somebody else put there. There are matters I consider as private - nobody's business but my own. The spreading of some information I can slightly control, some information I will gladly share, other information - not. Or just with those I trust. PIN codes. My thoughts when I am visiting places that are low on tolerance.
 
aim9xray said:
Turns out that there are browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox that strip UTM Tags . I have no idea if they are safe and effective. Use the search terms "utm tag stripping browser extension" to find.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's my backup plan.
Arjen said:
The innocent have nothing to hide somehow stops short of me hanging a webcam in my bathroom, or tolerating a webcam somebody else put there. There are matters I consider as private - nobody's business but my own. The spreading of some information I can slightly control, some information I will gladly share, other information - not. Or just with those I trust. PIN codes. My thoughts when I am visiting places that are low on tolerance.
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And some of us simply want to give advertisers a hard time.
martinbayer said:
Hello Arjen, thank you for your clarification(?)! I can honestly say though that any and all more or less constructive remarks I publicly divulge on this forum are intended to reach as large as possible of a forum/auditorium/audience, so I am *STILL* confused as to exactly what the collection issue pertains to - I most positively *WANT* any and all of my statements to be recorded for posterity - what am I missing or misunderstanding in this thread???
Click to expand...
Difference is you are deciding to publish which makes it kosher and halal. What google did was foisting some new tracker on all of us unannounced, giving us a 'stereotypically techbro' unwelcome new thing to deal with when that's the last thing anyone needs.
 
Arjen said:
The innocent have nothing to hide somehow stops short of me hanging a webcam in my bathroom, or tolerating a webcam somebody else put there. There are matters I consider as private - nobody's business but my own. The spreading of some information I can slightly control, some information I will gladly share, other information - not. Or just with those I trust. PIN codes. My thoughts when I am visiting places that are low on tolerance.
Click to expand...
Hello Arjen, as a tail end baby boomer (born in 1961) I still honestly do not comprehend what this discussion is all about. If you are not comfortable elaborating whatever the issue is in the open forum, please contact me privately - I simply want to understand if there is anything I did wrong. I only use webcams judiciously and *exceedingly* sparingly, and I have *NEVER* done so on this forum, so I am *STILL* unclear about what exactly this particular discussion is about??? If you think I did anything wrong, is it too much to ask you to *precisely* elaborate as to what exactly you are taking exception of with respect to any of my actions, either in private or in public???
 
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@martinbayer I don't think you did anything wrong.
The webcam in the bathroom is my example of an invasion of privacy that I think would be unacceptable to most, with somebody asking my first name during a friendly party being perfectly acceptable to me. Somewhere in between there is a grey area.

For me, the tracking information in links is in that grey area.
 
martinbayer said:
Hello Arjen, thank you for your clarification(?)! I can honestly say though that any and all more or less constructive remarks I publicly divulge on this forum are intended to reach as large as possible of a forum/auditorium/audience, so I am *STILL* confused as to exactly what the collection issue pertains to - I most positively *WANT* any and all of my statements to be recorded for posterity - what am I missing or misunderstanding in this thread???
Click to expand...
The topic is about Google/Youtube putting tracking information in links which could allow them to link a Google account to forum or other social media accounts based on you posting a Youtube link. Some people like to keep their identities separate, this compromises that. Many people wouldn't care, but some people would.
 

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