Why do people fall for this?

[manualcookie@hachyderm.io]

@revk Whats that about all caps? Do they generate less complex QR codes?

[revk@toot.me.uk]

@manualcookie yes

[tripplehelix@tech.lgbt]

@revk It's all the web generators. They all go through their servers and require subscriptions.

[tripplehelix@tech.lgbt]

@revk @happysteve You should add a link to 4.gg from your codeberg page. I only ever remember qr.revk.uk.

[gra@hachyderm.io]

@neil @revk The only use of shorteners I really approve of is "shortening as apology". As in, "I'm sorry we've been forced to use this awful system which generates 128 char URLs, and until we can replace the management who outsourced it here's the workaround"

[ghostinthenet@hachyderm.io]

@revk This is what happens when everything is a service. It never occurs to folks to just generate these things ourselves (or at least vet the services we use) so we take the most convenient path. We usually don’t notice that the QR code redirects through the service we used until it’s too late.

A key concern with offloading everything to services (outside of silly things like privacy and security) is that it becomes a habit where we can produce semi-acceptable results without having to do much thinking or work. It’s easy to get out of the habit of putting in thought and effort in the first place.

Okay, that’s a lot, but it’s Saturday and I just became caffeinated.

[kim@fedi.social]

@revk@toot.me.uk Presumably a cursory web/app search will return plenty of shiny-looking QR generators that are in fact URL redirection services, and that that isn't inherent to the nature of QR codes is a subtlety that's going to be lost on most people.

[kim@fedi.social]

@revk@toot.me.uk The rot set in when browsers started hiding URLs from the user.