I've been emailed an lngz.org link, how do I found out where it goes before I click on it!!!
Add a '+' symbol to the end of the URL, and lngz.org will show you what's underneath the link.
For example, if you were emailed the link http://lngz.org/3J you could go to the address http://lngz.org/3J+ and you would be presented with the full URL and some summary statistics for the link.
Adding 'info:' in front also works. ie: http://lngz.org/info:3J, but is depricated.

Why another link shortener?
Why not? I started writing this quite some time ago when tinyurl was pretty much the only well know shortener on the web. Now of course there are 100's of them, which puts this project distinctly in the 'because I can' department.

Why can't lngz.org do X Y and Z?
Because I'm making this up as I go. If you like a feature of another link shortener, or can think of a funky new feature you'd like, drop me and email.

Why is this site so ugly?(Thanks Dave...)
Function over form. And I really suck at design work. My other websites clearly show that. Once I've finished testing the engine behind the site I'll invest a bit of time in a semi-graphic UI for it. It still wont be pretty, but at least it'll have buttons and things.

How do I add links to lngz.org?

• For Firefox 2+:
  Drag the link below to the favourites/links toolbar, and you're in business.
  [lngz]
  When you want to create an lngz link for the site you're looking at, click the button on your favouties/links toolbar.
• For IE8:
  Right-Button on the link below, select 'Add to Favourites'.
  [lngz]
  Confirm that you don't mind a potentially unsafe link. (It wont bite, promise)
  Select 'Favourites Bar' to get it to appear on the tool bar below the address box.

What about Netscape 3.1?
You're kidding, right?

How do I get to see the RSS Feed?
Are you sure you're in the right place? This is the web, you do know that don't you?

What is an RSS Feed?
See above.

How do I get access to lngz?
While I'm testing the anti-spam and phishing detection there is no sign-up page for all the obvious reasons. If you want to join me in this journey of re-inventing the wheel email me at chris@trash.co.nz.

Site XYZ wont link, says it's SPAM
I use a couple of discrete blacklists, reverse DNS black lists and some anti-phishing checks on all URL's linked. If you've got a legit site you want to link and it continuously reports as SPAM, drop me an email and I'll look into it, this is the most complex part of this whole thing really...

What's Broke?
Before you tell me something isn't working, these are the known issues right now:

• Mixed timezones. - Some are in EST (where the server lives) some are NZST (where I live!) I'm working on user-configurable time zones, please hold. (all times will be fixed...)
• Some sites don't show titles when linked. - At the moment I only try the first 5k of html from the site looking for the title tag, and if it's not in the first 5k I'm picking they've got lots of crud in their html. :-)
• RSS feed is a little funky in IE8 - I really don't understand how IE8 processes RSS feeds, more testing needed. Essentially it dosn't always refresh when you ask it, and it leaves some things out.
• Some links don't show in RSS feed in Firefox - This is my fault, my filter for extraneous characters is a bit agressive. Working on that one.
• 'Unknown' Countries - the IP to Location service I picked from the 100's out there is pretty lousy, so I need to find a better one and sort out the API for it.

Misc Credits:
(Free / Open source bits I've used along the way)
- php / mysql, like you've not heard of them before....
- Twitter link image on the contact page Josiah Jost
- Pie chart script for the stats. Rasmus.
- MaxMind Country lite. Maxmind.com.