[Foundation-l] Do WMF want enwp.org?

[Alison M. Wheeler]

----- "Ashar Voultoiz" <hashar+wmf at free.fr> wrote:
> The '140 characters only' blogging platforms could probably implements
> their own short syntax to support popular sites.

Obviously, yes, however that misses the main point of short links from the pov of the owner of the shortening service. If you control the link then you get the numbers of users, etc. and can make decisions based on that ("What's Hot", for example) which you cannot do if you do not control that link. 

Also, if a bit.ly go.to or myqurl.com link heads to a wiki{p|m}edia page there is no evidence of that to the reader before they click on the link, losing mindshare and any benefits of keeping our name in front of people. By offering our own service (and, frankly, the shorter the better; none of this 'en.' or 'de.' stuff making it large again) we keep control of both the information of what people are interested in and make it clear that the link is trustworthy and to one of our projects. We would win in every direction.

Alison