I do not use them, but long URLs are a pain in many contexts, and it's not always possible to [link]wrap a tag around it[/link]. Server > client communication has gotten incredibly flexible, but client > server or client > peer communication is still mostly text-driven, and many URLs are not text-friendly or human-friendly.
The widespread use of these shorteners strongly argues that they do solve a problem, just not one that matters to you as a programmer.
I do not use them, but long URLs are a pain in many contexts, and it's not always possible to [link]wrap a tag around it[/link]. Server > client communication has gotten incredibly flexible, but client > server or client > peer communication is still mostly text-driven, and many URLs are not text-friendly or human-friendly.
The widespread use of these shorteners strongly argues that they do solve a problem, just not one that matters to you as a programmer.