what about dumping your data to http://permanize.org so that the short urls remain accessible permanently?
Cheers Malte
PS: I really liked your service. Its too bad.
millette
· 4 months ago
Great idea! I was going to ask that the DB be dumped somewhere so later, we can still find the content again (with a little work) even if the URLs stop working. permanize seems like the place to be.
joostzuurbier
· 4 months ago
Eric, please give us a call. We are interesting in continue running tr.im You have my contact info and mobile phone number in your mailbox.
Hey, just a question. Was the joost.com service named after you? (not a joke.. a real question)
Imtek
· 4 months ago
Joost is a common name in The Netherlands (Holland)
Christopher Stewart
· 4 months ago
Another suggestion : how about a partnership with http://identi.ca/ so that tr.im becomes their official shortener ?
There will always be alternative strategies... ;o)
quicksite
· 4 months ago
Hi Christopher, could you give some context? I just looked to see that http://identi.ca/ is an open source microblogging service -- i.e., an open-source twitter. Coming from someone (me) who is not yet even using twitter (by choice; I really don't have the need for now, maybe later), but I understand what it is, what it does, and in what areas it serves a real value (as with Iraq elections info, and other purposes), here are my questions:
1. Are there any other "me-too" twitter-like services? If so, what are they? 2. Is http://identi.ca/ the primary, or only, open-source version of twitter, as far as you know? 3. As far as you know, is identi.ca's intent to operate services under that brand name, or is it more like a mozilla.org -- a home for open-source development for, in their case, a browser? 4. From a branding perspective, identi.ca is probably about as bad a name as one could have in terms of building name recognition, which is why I ask... 5. But, at same time, I think what is even worse as a brand name, and thus I don't understand twitter's decision process at all, is: bit.ly
I think it's an idiotic choice, as far as the total mainstreaming of twitter... It would not be something "my grandmother" or even "my mother" would understand.
AS OPPOSED TO: tr.im --- which is the BEST name I have seen for a URL shortening service.
Thus, to ejw, I just want to say how unfortunate your situation is. Everyone claims twitter will be a financial success. That remains to be seen, as it took Amazon.com probably a decade to even be remotely profitable, and they actually had an easily recognizable business model from day 1.
I just would like to say this to ejw: I see a different value all-together for tr.im as a brand and as an all-together different service. I am going to email you about it. I would hate to see you "firesale" a great property to anyone who might be hitting on you to sell it to them for $1000 etc. Worth way more.
I would never have known about trim had it not been for progressive blogger Jay Rosen (pressthink) who used your service before that dumb bit.ly deal was made.
thank you, Christopher. I see that now, it was staring me in the face right at top of their start page :)
Just out of curiosity, do you respond to "branding" arguments or analysis, or does that not factor in for you. There's a very utilitarian side to branding: "Will people remember how to find you?" or "If I say this name verbally to people, will they remember it in a few days so as to go enter it into a browser address bar?
This is the basis on which I think identi.ca is just a disasterous name if people are to remember it. I get the whole trend started by delicious, but then I was never a fan of them either. :)
paulidin
· 4 months ago
You said, "life as a Twitter developer (which none of us here will be any longer)".
Just to clarify, does this mean you'll also be discontinuing pic.im and nambu? I realize pic.im can stand on its own, but twitter seems a pretty big part of nambu (which I use).
Leech
· 4 months ago
I second. What's the future of Nambu? The main issue I've found with Nambu was the lack of choose which url shortener to use (same issue you expose about Twitter choice).
Eric Woodward
· 4 months ago
Nambu will very likely be discontinued too, in that there will very likely be no more updates released, but no final decision has yet been made. Same issues there: Twitter advertisers our competitors on their homepage, basically kneecapping us with loads of free marketing to everyone else. It is hard to justify paying developers when you are stacked up against such odds, and people with inside tracks.
Daniel M. Clark
· 4 months ago
Unreal. You have a product that is aimed squarely at Mac users, one that isn't based on AIR, which is unreliable on Macs, and you think you can't succeed with it because Twitter pushes your competitors on their home page? Seriously, I wonder how long you guys lasted as long as you did with that kind of flawed thinking. Nambu had more going for it than just Twitter. If you had followed through on the goals of integrating Facebook, FriendFeed and Laconi.ca, you would have have the most powerful social media Mac app on the market. But no. You were so short sighted that you focused exclusively on Twitter and blamed your failure on the fact that they mention other clients on their home page.
If you base your business plan around Twitter (which itself has no business plan), then you're dooming yourself to failure. Which, I guess, is exactly what's happening. You keep saying that you can't monetize tr.im because Twitter prefers bit.ly. How were you planning on monetizing it to begin with? Were you waiting for Twitter to cut you a check? That was NEVER going to happen.
tr.im is a great domain name for a shortener, and you're killing it off because you can't see past Twitter. Nambu is a great social media client for the Mac, but you're killing it off because you can't see past Twitter. Don't tell me, as you did last night, that I lack perspective. Ask TinyURL how its been able to thrive for the past 10 years even though Twitter "prefers" bit.ly. It's not about Twitter. That was your mistake.
quicksite
· 4 months ago
Daniel M. Clark,
I concur completely when you say "Ask TinyURL how its been able to thrive for the past 10 years even though Twitter "prefers" bit.ly. It's not about Twitter. That was your mistake."
Everyone is so obsessed with Twitter these days. I get it. I understand why. And the concept of broadcast-IM (which is really what twitter is, vs "microblogging" -- way too elegant a term for what it really is). But there are many many other kinds of needs for URL shorteners which have absolutely nothing to do with twitter or anything LIKE twitter.
This new obsession is not unlike "blogging" itself, which was, in reality, just a slight re-packaging of forum software but aimed at "personal publishing". Yet it was treated as the second coming as it rose to public awareness during the Dean campaign.
But whether or not Nambu seeks to re-work what tr.im is, I see it as a perfect brand name for something we should be seeing in about a year. And, as Daniel suggests, there are blinders on those who have made their decision. Maybe you all just need some fresh eyes, fresh thinking. I'm going to write to you, EJW.
Look, "priceline.com" went through multiple iterations and models before its current incarnation. There are probably 100 more examples of brand names that started in Direction A, then eventually hit their mark with Direction G.
Name
· 4 months ago
Please do us a favor and open source it. Or at least tell us why you wouldnt want to?
dominik
· 4 months ago
I'd love to see it open-sourced, too.
Leech
· 4 months ago
Oh.. If you plan to discontinue it, can you open source it, please?
Piepiepie
· 4 months ago
Yeah, I feel for you, it was revealed how substantially twitter plays favorites with bit.ly, applications and twitter users. It is by all means twitter's right, but it sort of makes you want to root against them.
paulidin
· 4 months ago
Aw man, Nambu was the only really-mac-friendly twitter app I could find that did everything I wanted! I would totally pay a shareware fee for the next update, too (even if it's twitter-only). Everything else seems to be written in the very lame Adobe AIR. Sadness!
tyches
· 4 months ago
Canary, Beak, Tweetie are native Cocoa alternatives.
Jill
· 4 months ago
I absolutely love Nambu, and I really hope it continues.
chrisjmg
· 4 months ago
Eric, please contact me. We are interested in tr.im
playerx
· 4 months ago
I don't see any opensource Twitter or URC client developers bitching.
Stop trying to think you can possibly earn any money on fruitless ventures.
Name one IRC network which actually makes a dollar that isn't non-profit.
Tim
· 4 months ago
Repeat your last sentence aloud and see if it makes the least bit of sense.
Which non-profit do you know that "makes a dollar?"
playerx
· 4 months ago
Sorry I'll clarify this for you. Name one IRC network which actually makes a dollar +of revenue+ that isn't non-profit. Non Profits can make money. They just have to apply it to the business.
What if Goodwill suddenly realized they had millions of dollars worth of stuff to get rid of that people wanted to donate money for in trade? Oh yea, they already do this.
wysiwygvontash
· 4 months ago
You what?!? The only decent Twitter client for Mac is going to be killed because "Twitter advertisers our competitors on their homepage, basically kneecapping us with loads of free marketing to everyone else"? Come fcking on! Listen to Daniel M. Clark here, he hit the nail about it. The fall of Nambu is not due Twitter's anything, but due to your own incompetence to make this work.
Harsh words? Definetely. Why? Because Nambu freaking rocks. It is the only really good client for Mac out there and you guys are killing it for a surreal motive. Get a grip. Or at least have some decency and release the source code.
seancoates
· 4 months ago
I third. What will happen to Nambu? If it dies, can you PLEASE open source it?
Wan-Qi Kim, Investor
· 4 months ago
What few people seem to understand, understandably, is that the value of a url shortner is not how little it retains but how much. Shaving off one more k space isn't valuable. I know what is because I've been analyzing server logs for investors and ipo forecasting for 15 years. This http://journik.posterous.com/tag/bitly is what most people don't realize. And THIS http://semiprivate.posterous.com is where the money is.
Bitly has already disclosed their monetization plan so I don't feel any obligation to withhold this any longer.
quicksite
· 4 months ago
Wan-Qi Kim, I read your analyses, and they're pretty impressive. The FedEx tracking # analogy makes it hard to miss. It's great thinking... and hopefully these guys have taken the short time to read your analysis.
Marcus
· 4 months ago
Is tr.im being forced to shut down? (by someone or an organization?) Just some stuff's not adding up.
aleemb
· 4 months ago
Christopher, I might be able to help. Please send me an email with particulars about your server load and bandwidth requirements.
michaelglass
· 4 months ago
Nambu is a great twitter client. As a satisfied user, I'd be happy to pay for it or have it be ad-supported instead of it being trashed. Not that I'd mind y'all open-sourcing it.
Fred Kauber
· 4 months ago
I am saddened by this decision as tr.im was my URL shortener of choice, but the economics/landscape of URL shorteners are what they are. I'd like to thank you for the time, energy, and money you did invest into tr.im and thank you for accomplishing what many try but fail to do, which is to offer a value-added service on the 'net. I admire your responsible approach to having URLs continue to function through 2009, and you would be superheroes if you could find a way to allow us to export our URLs and statistics data.
Mike Soh
· 4 months ago
I've created a script that will export the last 100 shortened URLs in your account. It will save either in CSV or XML format.
Yeah, I knew about this 10 hours ago, did you know you can export individual stats too?
quicksite
· 4 months ago
Very decent of you, Mike. Really nice to see a cooperative spirit.
Mike Soh
· 4 months ago
Hey, I'm a huge fan of tr.im. Sad to see it go. Quite frankly, I wish the my work had a similiar service for our intranet.
XDS, I didn't think the stats were all that important, since most people will want to convert from tr.im to somewhere else.
Christopher Stewart
· 4 months ago
How about crowdfunding the thing ? Perhaps via a PayPal donation button with a monthly objective, or a ChipIn widget...
tr.im is a work of art compared to some shorteners out there. I for one don't mind paying to support quality. I would gladly contribute a few bucks a year so that the service is maintained...
In any case, thank you for all the work !
Best wishes, Chris
George Kao
· 4 months ago
I agree. If tr.im had asked its users for donations, or payment for premium services, I would have gladly paid.
Or if tr.im did make such a request, I don't recall... perhaps the need wasn't obvious enough?
albuquerquev
· 4 months ago
tr.im was an excellent service and am very sorry to see it go...
Please could you open access to the API documentation page, as I am sure a number of users like myself would like to export their tr.im URLs.
In addition to providing access to the API docs, it'd be nice if the need for an API key was either removed or an API key was made publicly available.
I managed to export all of my tr.im URLs through the tr.im API by looking into the tr.im Dashboard widget, and finding a couple of URLs required to access them. Just for convenience, here's a summarization:
/api/verify.json?username=YOURUSERNAME&password=YOURPASSWORD&api_key=APIKEY must be called prior to calling the next method. You'll receive a 200 response if your credentials & API key are accepted. /api/account_urls.json?username=YOURUSERNAME&password=YOURPASSWORD&api_key=APIKEY&count=NUMBER returns the (NUMBER) most recent URLs you shorted, in JSON format. Yes, both of the calls (appear to) require your credentials.
Of course, you'll need to find an API key somewhere… there's one in the tr.im dashboard widget (tr.im dashboard widget > show package contents > main.js). I won't paste it here since it isn't mine, but it's there if you're looking for one.
So, there's no way to get our URL stats out? Not even a couple days notice to do some screen shots?
I realize that this is a free service, but that's a pretty shoddy way to treat the many users who did recognize that your service was better than the others.
Sean
· 4 months ago
I agree, it would have been nice to be able to grab the list of my shortened URL's
kieranmullen
· 4 months ago
How is it shoddy? Where do you get this sense of entitlement? Did you invest funds into this company? Traffic does not = money.
William Pietri
· 4 months ago
When you offer a service on the web that holds on to people's data, there is assumption on the part of the user that the service provider will behave reasonably. That includes all sorts of things, like not stealing passwords, not pulling a bait-and-switch, and yes, not just taking all the data without warning.
Also, traffic absolutely does equal money. Investor valuations of web properties include user base size, activity, and composition as a major component. If tr.im had bit.ly's traffic, they wouldn't be shutting down, they'd be taking an investment round.
Personally, my impression is that the people behind tr.im are good people who are just worn out and dispirited. But given their keeping the redirects up for a while, they're clearly responsible people, and I think they just hadn't considered the data angle, or didn't have time to whip something up. I expect once they've had a bit to think about it, they'll free their users' data as well.
zeebs
· 4 months ago
"When you offer a service on the web that holds on to people's data, there is assumption on the part of the user that the service provider will behave reasonably."
There's that word, assumption... Why do people make positive assumptions about entities on the web that they would not make about actual, meat-space entities? Just curious.
William Pietri
· 4 months ago
People actually make those assumptions about entities all the time, no matter the context. A lot of civil society is about building a baseline level of trust among citizens and in the marketplace, because society operates a lot more efficiently that way.
For example, if you go to the store, even a store that has just opened, you trust that the can of beans you buy really contains beans, that they are reasonably fresh (or, if you're suspicious, that the expiration date you look at is unaltered), and that they are up to all applicable health standards. You also probably don't look too closely at the money you get back, trusting that they're not trying to cheat you or slip you counterfeit bills. And you certainly assume that they're not going to kidnap you and serve you as sausage.
In the early days, people didn't have those assumptions about the web, because it was all so new. But a decade of experience has changed that. By and large, things work fine, so people assume that things will continue to do so, at least as long as they don't see particular markers they've come to associate with a dubious situation.
XDS
· 4 months ago
This was a great service and site while it lasted. Hell, even NASA used Tr.im .
It was really fun while it lasted and my best goes out to Nambu and its creators and staff.
My thoughts and prayers are indeed with you all, and best of luck on your new ventures ! Have nothing but love for you all.
ALL IN ALL A GREAT SERVICE SAD TO SEE YOU GO !
quicksite
· 4 months ago
Hmm, NASA, ehh? Well, then maybe Nambu could qualify for a couple of million from the Stimulus Package... Or shake it out of Hank Paulson and Goldman Sachs who heisted a nation.... (just a little political commentary to go with trimming the budget.)
Tariq Nisar Ahmed
· 4 months ago
Sorry to see tr.im get axed because I really preferred your interface and site design to the other URL shorteners out there.
In any case, please consider sending users an e-mail listing all of their tr.im URLs and the URLs to which they point. That would really help users like me to establish alternative shortened URLs quickly and with as few gaps as possible.
Thanks for all your work.
Name
· 4 months ago
By far the best url shortening service... I can't believe you're out of the game. I will miss you every time I see a shortened url that is a digit longer than it needs to be.
Kevin McNulty
· 4 months ago
When you say that you will not sell to spammers (good!) or speculators (define speculator) at any price, does that mean you will not sell at all? Or are there circumstances and buyers that you would still consider at this point?
chrisjmg
· 4 months ago
We are potentially interested in purchasing Tr.im, please contact us immediately....
charliegunningham
· 4 months ago
Tr.im outdid all other URL shorteners out there - really sad to see you go. I only used you, and referred you to loads of people. Shame to see to the best product not winning out, and wishing you all the best for the future
Who can I contact to discuss possibly taking over tr.im functionality? Please email me mrtech [at] gmail.com
Wes
· 4 months ago
I'm sad to see tr.im go. I don't often need a URL shortening service (Not a big fan of Twitter), but tr.im was my favorite. Good luck with the future, guys.
giggity
· 4 months ago
Um, news flash. There's a boatload of free URL shortening scripts available. All this is doing is saving a link in their database, and assigning it a serial number essentially. Whenever that short serial number is called it pulls the corresponding field from their table (meaning the link you are about to be redirected to). Why would anyone even consider paying for such trivial coding? Not to knock your site, but I mean, seriously?
William Pietri
· 4 months ago
You've made the assumption that what you have noticed is all there is. See this fine article for more detail on why this common argument is basically bunk: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/00128...
quicksite
· 4 months ago
giggity, you show alleged knowledge of coding, and absolutely zero awareness of or understanding of branding. It doesn't matter though. Critics like you are a dime a dozen. Actually even less.
sytelus
· 4 months ago
Here's simple idea to monetize your website: Instead of directly redirecting tr.im URL to a website you can redirect to a page with a frame. Frame would have one side to show ad and another side to show page. To be nice you can even put a link "Remove Frame" or set a timer so frame is removed automatically. There are many variants of this idea possible. Trust me users will find it far more better to have previously generated tr.im URL to stay alive with little bit of ad rather then millions of those URLs becoming invalid overnight.
XDS
· 4 months ago
They already mentioned they want nothing to do with frames.
quicksite
· 4 months ago
go.to service does this....
James
· 4 months ago
Very sorry to hear about this. Always used tr.im for all my url shortening needs, and always recommended it to all my friends. Thoroughly enjoyed using tr.im's services, good luck to you guys in all of your future endeavors. Thanks for all the work friends!
Fantikerz
· 4 months ago
Very unfortunate that it came to this, I wish the developers the best of luck in any future endeavors. Tr.im was a great service.
TheMacJedi
· 4 months ago
Agreed, it would have been nice to get a list of my customized shortened URLs from my three Tr.im accounts.
Maybe you would reconsider letting us get those.
Jim Connolly
· 4 months ago
This is sad.
Am I the only person getting a little pissed, that Twitter is using a 'friends network' for it's providers - rather than the best quality providers?
Good luck and my very best wishes to everyone at tr.im.
Peter
· 4 months ago
Hello tr.im-Team,
I have a problem! I used tr.im to save interesting liks and share it with my friends. Due to the closing of you page I cant access these liks anymore.
How can I get the list of my links now? I lost every link...
I hope you can help me
Thank you very much!
Peter
Peter
· 4 months ago
Can you e-mail me because of that ... would be very kind of you!
Jonas D.
· 4 months ago
Can't you just at least export the URL stats to a spreadsheet or even a text file?
JEUXDESDOGS
· 4 months ago
LOL your shitty attempt to monetize that piece of shit twitter failed. " life as a Twitter developer " LOL twitter developer… good one, trying to make money off such a stupid service was fucking stupid. I mean URL shorteners are genuinely pointless the only reason people were excited about them was because they got round twitters ridiculous character limit, if twitter wasn't a piece of shit it wouldn't include URLs in the character limit in the first place. All URL shorters are basically just a gateway to maleware
F
· 4 months ago
Intelligence: you has it!
AceTDF
· 4 months ago
You're a Facebook user, right? xD Every service has it's own approach... You would know if you were a little more intelligent
quicksite
· 4 months ago
No, worse, I would say he's an AOL user. The equivalent of those who call themselves "birthers" and "teabaggers" in the USA. Just barely educated enough to be dangerous.
kavoor
· 4 months ago
This is so unfortunate. You trimmed some of my most valuable URLs. Thanks.
playerx
· 4 months ago
"While we are disappointed that users cannot choose their URL shortener, that is Twitter’s decision to make"
This was NOT that case for Nambu users as myself, the only URL shortener we had/have to choose from IS the default which you baked in as tr.im
I can only hope you release a new version of Nambu before weeks, end, because seriously... What's the point of using your client with a FAILED URL shortener? I guess I could go manually shorten them, but I might as well just use another client which is more open. You guys were your own demise. Now your only salvation is to open everything up, and hope that people trust your new business venture.
Ed
· 4 months ago
Shame, I really liked your service. Probably the best out there. I think it's kind of a shame you're not allowing a data export. Which probably means you're holding out for a payout, since people leaving would devalue the payoff of tr.im; especially since the peeps over at Betaworks have offered to host the URL's. http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/shorturl-savior/ Sorry to see it go, thanks for building a great app though!
Ajith Nair
· 4 months ago
Thank you for the good service you've been providing so far.
paulidin
· 4 months ago
I can understand why people are posting questions here about the future of tr.im and nambu. I understand why there are posts indicating our appreciation of the services rendered. (I, too, appreciate both services)
I don't understand why people who seem to dislike nambu or tr.im or the developers actions or the company's philosophies bothered to come here to criticize or attack. Those folks don't have to come here to say anything since the services already appear to be going away, so why go to the effort just to be negative? I don't really want an answer as the only possible answers would also be negative and unhelpful. I'd just like them to cut it out.
I will, however, say again to Eric Woodward and his co-workers that I really liked tr.im and nambu the best of all the other competing services out there and will be sad to see them go. I hope to see more from them in the future.
Daniel M. Clark
· 4 months ago
Welcome to the internet. You're clearly new. On the internet, people sometimes take the time to type out their displeasure over a situation because it requires very little effort. Some people, like myself, try to make reasoned criticisms of situations, even if the tone can be a little acerbic. Others just jump in and let the insults and insane rhetoric fly. Mainly we do it because the notion that "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" is ridiculous childhood claptrap that has no place in grown-up reality. Truth, FTW.
ziRta
· 4 months ago
I'm sorry to know about this. Tr.im is a way cooler url than bit.ly and its stats were even better! I signed up a few weeks ago, but had to turn it off because SOMEHOW bit.ly still proccessed my twitter urls after tr.imming them and marked them as malicious links! Since I couldn't work a solution for this, I had to turn off tr.im for what it seemed an unfair competition. Twitter definitely is not letting us pick our shortener, and yes, it's sad. My cheers and best wishes in your upcoming 2.0 projects!
Javier
· 4 months ago
Thanks for this superb service. As a developer, I understand the need to move forward and the need to look for new market opportunities. I started using tr.im because it was quick, simple and it had a nice user interface. Good luck. Yours sincerely. Javier Garcia
wado
· 4 months ago
Too bad. I'm a huge tr.im fan. Even started a twitter account to complain about our lack of choice: https://twitter.com/freetheurls
J Weis
· 4 months ago
I like tr.im.
I switched to it from bit.ly several months ago. I am saddened by your exit.
Have you considered turning it over to the community? I really have no IDEA what I am talking about when I say this. But maybe opening it up so that anyone can contribute to operations, troubleshooting, bugfixes and the like?
Is it possible to sell it to ONE company and allow them to put their BRAND on the site.
Earlier this year, someone told me that they had NO desire to use a site with an "ly" domain, they thought it supported a terrorist country. He was a lawyer, not a average joe.
My point, "tr.im" is nice, it's 5 chars instead of 6, it better describes the process, it's less offensive, it's so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so NICE and simple.
If tr.im goes, so does my hope in humanity and the dream that every URL shortener has a place for profitability on the web, the dream of large ice cream cones that never melt (but are not chemically) fades fades drips away.
GodMode
· 4 months ago
All the best to tr.im and the entire nambu team.
Alexander
· 4 months ago
We're interested in buying tr.im. Please contact us for more details.
quicksite
· 4 months ago
I hope you're planning to offer more than $100... more than $500.... more than $1000 .
Dyrek
· 4 months ago
this is really unfortunate. you provided a spectacular service. we are all disappointed that no opportunity arose to reward the work and initiative you committed to providing us with such a great tool. you'll go on, we're certain, to do some great things.. it's just a shame this couldn't have been one of them. best of luck
Leb2.0
· 4 months ago
Why did you started that service in a first place? If you can't afford to run it then don't start it at all!
HOLY SHIT, F*CKING INDINAS!
Mark
· 4 months ago
Don't be stupid. Many business models don't work out. It took a few businesses for me as well. Things change, but their features were by far better than anyone else (period).
I think if they can figure out an advertising model, at least put banner ads or adsense, that will help with the costs. I think SEO or company like that should purchase this. IT would be a GREAT COMPLIMENT to existing web analytics company.
johnsonLAB
· 4 months ago
tr.im was by far the coolest. I especially loved the Firefox add-on that allowed to trim from navigationbar 2 clipboard. just dropped by to say THANK YOU. Best, Steve
johnsonLAB
· 4 months ago
Ahh, I forgot to mention, that I loved the CD. Gn8 + good Luck! :)
xinit
· 4 months ago
While I appreciate how you came to this decision... could you at least allow us access to our URL pages to export the links that we've shortened? I took to using tr.im links as a bookmarking service as much as for sharing the shortened links, and there are a couple in there that I would like to retrieve...
RJFerret
· 4 months ago
I too would like to recover my tr.im'd urls please! Please don't continue to block access of "our" data.
Thanks!
Mark
· 4 months ago
Twitter lost it's best opportunity. The other "short urls" had nothing on Tr.Im. Please keep this updated because I love the idea. You can at least do Adsense because I use your site for statistics. I know I am a viewer.. and thus with thousands of others like us, that is an advertising model.
Please keep the site updated with who takes over the service.
Bill
· 4 months ago
It's a shame your entire business model was predicated on twitter choosing your service over another. Were you simply assuming they'd switch from tinyurl to you based on your charming personality? Or by the fact that your Nambu client (which I use) pretends there are no other shortening services.
Please consider an open solution in the future. It will probably work out better.
seancurry1
· 4 months ago
You guys were great! For a microblogging site where you couldn't post more than 140 characters, your URL's brevity was especially useful. Aside from that, your statistic reports were always fun for me and the whole UI was top-notch. It's sad to watch you go, I wish everyone at tr.im and nambu the best for the future.
Mike Putron
· 4 months ago
I have created a ChipIn Page as suggested by Chris Stewart to try and save tr.im.
Please help out and let's all together try and save tr.im from shutting down!
Name
· 4 months ago
Eric has offers in his inbox beyond the 2000 USD that you're trying to raise. This kind of money is not the problem for a website like tr.im.
forwardsteps
· 4 months ago
Hello,
I absolutely loved your service better than any other. Silly me, I used it for everything!
Thought that you'd be safe as houses, then again, we saw what happened to houses! The tinyurl service had been around for years, and figured you guys would be as well, particularly with the professional manner in which you had it all set up.
Would it be possible to get a full list of the tr.im's I had listed with you, so that I can transfer them all before December?
I did not only use your service for Twitter.
Perhaps stupidly, I used it all over my web site, and in a book that I'm publishing. The links are in my blogs, my 100's of various Aweber autoresponder messages, and in 100's of other spots all over my business. Now I need to redo all those links. Have to spend ages in finding them first. My book was about to go out, with your links in it.
My tr.im account was 'forwardsteps'
I do so hope you can help me by sending that list. As it stands currently, I have many hours (days) of work ahead of me due to this 'hiccup'. I know you have no obligation to do this, but I have a day job too and this really is a killer with regard use of my time.
I hoped you would understand what this means for an online business, and can help.
Best regards, Thea
Matt
· 4 months ago
tr.im really should not shut down, this is just bad for the web now, and in the future. Broken links are not cool.
To the owner of Tr.im (I checked whois and didn't see any email to contact you at) so this is my best option :)
I am the owner of http://www.f-u.me (Fume URL Shortening) -- I have custom coded the site from the ground up and would love to continue your services and upgrading when necessary to handle the traffic. I truly do believe that we can handle this no doubt about it.
If you would like to consider forwarding all homepage traffic to http://www.f-u.me , I would greatly appreciate it and promise to do my best to keep this service as strong as it has been. Best of luck to you and your future projects :)
quicksite
· 4 months ago
zach, with all due respect, what you should really be asking for is a way for you to continue their service under the NAME tr.im .... Sorry, but from a branding perspective, f-u.me is really low on the totem pole. I don't say this to insult. It's more so you adjust your thinking. You may have similar capabilities, and who knows if you have resources to run such a service. But you should be realistic. If tr.im can't survive as a URL shortener, f-u.me is leagues apart. But I wish you well also.
Zaheer Ellias Najeeb
· 4 months ago
trim was my favorite of all shorteners. No Annoying Sidebars, Great Widget, Excellent Statistics...
Hope you can workout a business model. Like open-sourcing or paid short URL's
Jay
· 4 months ago
How much is Tr.im going for? Give me a reasonable price and I may consider it... Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Markus Franz
· 4 months ago
My company (Sugoma, based in Germany) would be interested in buying your service. Please send me a mail to discuss this with your management executives...
okapy
· 4 months ago
Would you be interested if I suggest a way to monetize tr.im? Actually, not just to monetize it, but even offer people who use tr.im some money as rewards. This will not just save the service, this will make it much more attractive to users then any other URLs shortening site.
Please contact me if you are interested. This is not a scam, or any other ugly solution (like opening frames with banners)
Michael OWS Software, Inc.
Philippe
· 4 months ago
I WANT BUY TR.IM, please contact me on my mail
gt2buy
· 4 months ago
Boo Hoo.
I dont make any money either, but I am not a quitter.
Is it possible to export the stats of my tr.im links?
chris kluis
· 4 months ago
Please email me with pricing information and the assets that will be sold.
spatical
· 4 months ago
We also would be interested in knowing your selling price.
mdenkmaier
· 4 months ago
With all respect, what are you guys trying to achive? Frist post some news that your service is going to shut down, now i revisit your page and see that everthing seems to be up and running!?! Shutdown or stay alive! Please tell us your decision, but stop anoying everyone with bad "PR-Gags"
michalki
· 4 months ago
Who tweets from the standard interface anyway? Twitter web is lame. Tweetdeck (my app of choice) offers their top6 url-shorteners, and tr.im is #5 on the list (because of alphabetical order). This list was shortened, previously they had something like 13 options.
i think some have mentioned that twitter is not going to remain the sole microblogging platform.. there are significant moves to decentralise and open source 140character communication (eg laconica and identica).
All Comments
what about dumping your data to http://permanize.org so that the short urls remain accessible permanently?
Cheers
Malte
PS: I really liked your service. Its too bad.
You have my contact info and mobile phone number in your mailbox.
Kind regards,
Joost Zuurbier
Dot TK Registry
http://tweak.tk
There will always be alternative strategies... ;o)
1. Are there any other "me-too" twitter-like services? If so, what are they?
2. Is http://identi.ca/ the primary, or only, open-source version of twitter, as far as you know?
3. As far as you know, is identi.ca's intent to operate services under that brand name, or is it more like a mozilla.org -- a home for open-source development for, in their case, a browser?
4. From a branding perspective, identi.ca is probably about as bad a name as one could have in terms of building name recognition, which is why I ask...
5. But, at same time, I think what is even worse as a brand name, and thus I don't understand twitter's decision process at all, is: bit.ly
I think it's an idiotic choice, as far as the total mainstreaming of twitter... It would not be something "my grandmother" or even "my mother" would understand.
AS OPPOSED TO: tr.im --- which is the BEST name I have seen for a URL shortening service.
Thus, to ejw, I just want to say how unfortunate your situation is. Everyone claims twitter will be a financial success. That remains to be seen, as it took Amazon.com probably a decade to even be remotely profitable, and they actually had an easily recognizable business model from day 1.
I just would like to say this to ejw: I see a different value all-together for tr.im as a brand and as an all-together different service. I am going to email you about it. I would hate to see you "firesale" a great property to anyone who might be hitting on you to sell it to them for $1000 etc. Worth way more.
I would never have known about trim had it not been for progressive blogger Jay Rosen (pressthink) who used your service before that dumb bit.ly deal was made.
/quicksite (guardian of good things)
Just out of curiosity, do you respond to "branding" arguments or analysis, or does that not factor in for you. There's a very utilitarian side to branding: "Will people remember how to find you?" or "If I say this name verbally to people, will they remember it in a few days so as to go enter it into a browser address bar?
This is the basis on which I think identi.ca is just a disasterous name if people are to remember it. I get the whole trend started by delicious, but then I was never a fan of them either. :)
Just to clarify, does this mean you'll also be discontinuing pic.im and nambu? I realize pic.im can stand on its own, but twitter seems a pretty big part of nambu (which I use).
The main issue I've found with Nambu was the lack of choose which url shortener to use (same issue you expose about Twitter choice).
If you base your business plan around Twitter (which itself has no business plan), then you're dooming yourself to failure. Which, I guess, is exactly what's happening. You keep saying that you can't monetize tr.im because Twitter prefers bit.ly. How were you planning on monetizing it to begin with? Were you waiting for Twitter to cut you a check? That was NEVER going to happen.
tr.im is a great domain name for a shortener, and you're killing it off because you can't see past Twitter. Nambu is a great social media client for the Mac, but you're killing it off because you can't see past Twitter. Don't tell me, as you did last night, that I lack perspective. Ask TinyURL how its been able to thrive for the past 10 years even though Twitter "prefers" bit.ly. It's not about Twitter. That was your mistake.
I concur completely when you say "Ask TinyURL how its been able to thrive for the past 10 years even though Twitter "prefers" bit.ly. It's not about Twitter. That was your mistake."
Everyone is so obsessed with Twitter these days. I get it. I understand why. And the concept of broadcast-IM (which is really what twitter is, vs "microblogging" -- way too elegant a term for what it really is). But there are many many other kinds of needs for URL shorteners which have absolutely nothing to do with twitter or anything LIKE twitter.
This new obsession is not unlike "blogging" itself, which was, in reality, just a slight re-packaging of forum software but aimed at "personal publishing". Yet it was treated as the second coming as it rose to public awareness during the Dean campaign.
But whether or not Nambu seeks to re-work what tr.im is, I see it as a perfect brand name for something we should be seeing in about a year. And, as Daniel suggests, there are blinders on those who have made their decision. Maybe you all just need some fresh eyes, fresh thinking. I'm going to write to you, EJW.
Look, "priceline.com" went through multiple iterations and models before its current incarnation. There are probably 100 more examples of brand names that started in Direction A, then eventually hit their mark with Direction G.
Stop trying to think you can possibly earn any money on fruitless ventures.
Name one IRC network which actually makes a dollar that isn't non-profit.
Which non-profit do you know that "makes a dollar?"
Name one IRC network which actually makes a dollar +of revenue+ that isn't non-profit.
Non Profits can make money. They just have to apply it to the business.
What if Goodwill suddenly realized they had millions of dollars worth of stuff to get rid of that people wanted to donate money for in trade? Oh yea, they already do this.
Harsh words? Definetely. Why? Because Nambu freaking rocks. It is the only really good client for Mac out there and you guys are killing it for a surreal motive. Get a grip. Or at least have some decency and release the source code.
If it dies, can you PLEASE open source it?
Bitly has already disclosed their monetization plan so I don't feel any obligation to withhold this any longer.
http://www.mikesoh.com/trim
Source code is available as well: http://www.mikesoh.com/trim/trim.zip
Uses PHP.
Please be gentle. I'm on a slow server.
XDS, I didn't think the stats were all that important, since most people will want to convert from tr.im to somewhere else.
tr.im is a work of art compared to some shorteners out there. I for one don't mind paying to support quality. I would gladly contribute a few bucks a year so that the service is maintained...
In any case, thank you for all the work !
Best wishes,
Chris
Or if tr.im did make such a request, I don't recall... perhaps the need wasn't obvious enough?
Please could you open access to the API documentation page, as I am sure a number of users like myself would like to export their tr.im URLs.
Currently http://tr.im/website/api returns the service discontinuation page...
I managed to export all of my tr.im URLs through the tr.im API by looking into the tr.im Dashboard widget, and finding a couple of URLs required to access them. Just for convenience, here's a summarization:
/api/verify.json?username=YOURUSERNAME&password=YOURPASSWORD&api_key=APIKEY must be called prior to calling the next method. You'll receive a 200 response if your credentials & API key are accepted.
/api/account_urls.json?username=YOURUSERNAME&password=YOURPASSWORD&api_key=APIKEY&count=NUMBER returns the (NUMBER) most recent URLs you shorted, in JSON format. Yes, both of the calls (appear to) require your credentials.
Of course, you'll need to find an API key somewhere… there's one in the tr.im dashboard widget (tr.im dashboard widget > show package contents > main.js). I won't paste it here since it isn't mine, but it's there if you're looking for one.
*sigh* shortened with is.gd....
I realize that this is a free service, but that's a pretty shoddy way to treat the many users who did recognize that your service was better than the others.
Also, traffic absolutely does equal money. Investor valuations of web properties include user base size, activity, and composition as a major component. If tr.im had bit.ly's traffic, they wouldn't be shutting down, they'd be taking an investment round.
Personally, my impression is that the people behind tr.im are good people who are just worn out and dispirited. But given their keeping the redirects up for a while, they're clearly responsible people, and I think they just hadn't considered the data angle, or didn't have time to whip something up. I expect once they've had a bit to think about it, they'll free their users' data as well.
There's that word, assumption... Why do people make positive assumptions about entities on the web that they would not make about actual, meat-space entities? Just curious.
For example, if you go to the store, even a store that has just opened, you trust that the can of beans you buy really contains beans, that they are reasonably fresh (or, if you're suspicious, that the expiration date you look at is unaltered), and that they are up to all applicable health standards. You also probably don't look too closely at the money you get back, trusting that they're not trying to cheat you or slip you counterfeit bills. And you certainly assume that they're not going to kidnap you and serve you as sausage.
In the early days, people didn't have those assumptions about the web, because it was all so new. But a decade of experience has changed that. By and large, things work fine, so people assume that things will continue to do so, at least as long as they don't see particular markers they've come to associate with a dubious situation.
It was really fun while it lasted and my best goes out to Nambu and its creators and staff.
My thoughts and prayers are indeed with you all, and best of luck on your new ventures !
Have nothing but love for you all.
ALL IN ALL A GREAT SERVICE SAD TO SEE YOU GO !
In any case, please consider sending users an e-mail listing all of their tr.im URLs and the URLs to which they point. That would really help users like me to establish alternative shortened URLs quickly and with as few gaps as possible.
Thanks for all your work.
Charlie (aussiehome.com, Perth, WA, Australia)
Maybe you would reconsider letting us get those.
Am I the only person getting a little pissed, that Twitter is using a 'friends network' for it's providers - rather than the best quality providers?
Good luck and my very best wishes to everyone at tr.im.
I have a problem! I used tr.im to save interesting liks and share it with my friends. Due to the closing of you page I cant access these liks anymore.
How can I get the list of my links now? I lost every link...
I hope you can help me
Thank you very much!
Peter
your shitty attempt to monetize that piece of shit twitter failed.
" life as a Twitter developer " LOL twitter developer… good one, trying to make money off such a stupid service was fucking stupid. I mean URL shorteners are genuinely pointless the only reason people were excited about them was because they got round twitters ridiculous character limit, if twitter wasn't a piece of shit it wouldn't include URLs in the character limit in the first place.
All URL shorters are basically just a gateway to maleware
This was NOT that case for Nambu users as myself, the only URL shortener we had/have to choose from IS the default which you baked in as tr.im
I can only hope you release a new version of Nambu before weeks, end, because seriously... What's the point of using your client with a FAILED URL shortener? I guess I could go manually shorten them, but I might as well just use another client which is more open. You guys were your own demise. Now your only salvation is to open everything up, and hope that people trust your new business venture.
I think it's kind of a shame you're not allowing a data export. Which probably means you're holding out for a payout, since people leaving would devalue the payoff of tr.im; especially since the peeps over at Betaworks have offered to host the URL's.
http://mashable.com/2009/08/10/shorturl-savior/
Sorry to see it go, thanks for building a great app though!
I don't understand why people who seem to dislike nambu or tr.im or the developers actions or the company's philosophies bothered to come here to criticize or attack. Those folks don't have to come here to say anything since the services already appear to be going away, so why go to the effort just to be negative? I don't really want an answer as the only possible answers would also be negative and unhelpful. I'd just like them to cut it out.
I will, however, say again to Eric Woodward and his co-workers that I really liked tr.im and nambu the best of all the other competing services out there and will be sad to see them go. I hope to see more from them in the future.
I signed up a few weeks ago, but had to turn it off because SOMEHOW bit.ly still proccessed my twitter urls after tr.imming them and marked them as malicious links!
Since I couldn't work a solution for this, I had to turn off tr.im for what it seemed an unfair competition.
Twitter definitely is not letting us pick our shortener, and yes, it's sad.
My cheers and best wishes in your upcoming 2.0 projects!
I switched to it from bit.ly several months ago. I am saddened by your exit.
Have you considered turning it over to the community? I really have no IDEA what I am talking about when I say this. But maybe opening it up so that anyone can contribute to operations, troubleshooting, bugfixes and the like?
Is it possible to sell it to ONE company and allow them to put their BRAND on the site.
Earlier this year, someone told me that they had NO desire to use a site with an "ly" domain, they thought it supported a terrorist country. He was a lawyer, not a average joe.
My point, "tr.im" is nice, it's 5 chars instead of 6, it better describes the process, it's less offensive, it's so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so NICE and simple.
If tr.im goes, so does my hope in humanity and the dream that every URL shortener has a place for profitability on the web, the dream of large ice cream cones that never melt (but are not chemically) fades fades drips away.
you provided a spectacular service.
we are all disappointed that no opportunity arose to reward the work and initiative you committed to providing us with such a great tool.
you'll go on, we're certain, to do some great things.. it's just a shame this couldn't have been one of them.
best of luck
HOLY SHIT, F*CKING INDINAS!
I think if they can figure out an advertising model, at least put banner ads or adsense, that will help with the costs. I think SEO or company like that should purchase this. IT would be a GREAT COMPLIMENT to existing web analytics company.
Thanks!
Please keep the site updated with who takes over the service.
Please consider an open solution in the future. It will probably work out better.
The page to donate is http://savetrim.chipin.com
Please help out and let's all together try and save tr.im from shutting down!
I absolutely loved your service better than any other. Silly me, I used it for everything!
Thought that you'd be safe as houses, then again, we saw what happened to houses!
The tinyurl service had been around for years, and figured you guys would be as well, particularly with the professional manner in which you had it all set up.
Would it be possible to get a full list of the tr.im's I had listed with you, so that I can transfer them all before December?
I did not only use your service for Twitter.
Perhaps stupidly, I used it all over my web site, and in a book that I'm publishing.
The links are in my blogs, my 100's of various Aweber autoresponder messages, and in 100's of other spots all over my business.
Now I need to redo all those links. Have to spend ages in finding them first.
My book was about to go out, with your links in it.
My tr.im account was 'forwardsteps'
I do so hope you can help me by sending that list.
As it stands currently, I have many hours (days) of work ahead of me due to this 'hiccup'.
I know you have no obligation to do this, but I have a day job too and this really is a killer with regard use of my time.
I hoped you would understand what this means for an online business, and can help.
Best regards,
Thea
http://mavrev.com/site/story/the_begining_of_th...
I am the owner of http://www.f-u.me (Fume URL Shortening) -- I have custom coded the site from the ground up and would love to continue your services and upgrading when necessary to handle the traffic. I truly do believe that we can handle this no doubt about it.
If you would like to consider forwarding all homepage traffic to http://www.f-u.me , I would greatly appreciate it and promise to do my best to keep this service as strong as it has been. Best of luck to you and your future projects :)
No Annoying Sidebars, Great Widget, Excellent Statistics...
Hope you can workout a business model.
Like open-sourcing or paid short URL's
Actually, not just to monetize it, but even offer people who use tr.im some money as rewards. This will not just save the service, this will make it much more attractive to users then any other URLs shortening site.
Please contact me if you are interested. This is not a scam, or any other ugly solution (like opening frames with banners)
Michael
OWS Software, Inc.
I dont make any money either, but I am not a quitter.
I'm a french investor and i wanna buy your service, contact me martin_AT_zolia_DOT_.net
BR
i think some have mentioned that twitter is not going to remain the sole microblogging platform.. there are significant moves to decentralise and open source 140character communication (eg laconica and identica).
best of luck people ;-]