Ask HN: Do you remove UTM parameters from links when including them in messages? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do you remove UTM parameters from links when including them in messages?

7 pointscrones10 comments

I always remove UTM parameters from links before including them in messages/emails. I was wondering if anyone else on HN does that and whether you think it is ethical?

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I don't think it's unethical of companies to include them. But I do remove them in places where you can see the URL, like an email, because I think it looks messy. I like reading URLs before I click on them and extraneous parameters make that more difficult.

I do it for this reason too. I use IM apps with my friends, and links that take up an entire screen are difficult to read for the recipient.

I do too. And I don't understand why you think it is unethical to strip off the url params. I feel like it is unethical on the companies part instead to abuse the tech illiteracy among general populace.

I am anti-tracking in general, although it feels like that is a losing (or already lost) battle.

Many on here make their living directly or indirectly through being able to track traffic, so I was curious to hear if there were any arguments (ethical or otherwise) against my approach.

I remove as much as possible (not just the utm bits) from any URL that I am planning to store or send to someone else.

I especially dislike URLs that don't fit on one line.

I remove the UTM too and I don't think it's unethical.

Digital marketers try their best to segment people properly, to measure everything accurately, etc but in the end there's NO WAY to do these things perfectly!

There's a lot of measurement inaccuracies after all and it's a normal part of their job... They find other ways to achieve their goals.

I even strip 'www.' if it automatically redirects. Marketing tracking parameters add no value for me or my readers.

On HN I've seen a marketer or two who added tracking parameter in comments. It was something like &utm=hackernews&&utcampaign=betalaunch&utsource=comment. That's a bit much IMHO.

Why www as well? Is it just to make the target domain clearer, or for some other reason?

I don't get why they add them when posting on HN. It's a senstive crowd and they can still figure out that the traffic came from HN by logging/tracking the `Referrer` header.

yes, I usually remove them. And I don't feel bad about it. Rather the other way around, I feel bad if I send someone a message or email with a link incl. the UTM parameters.

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