via @techcruch "There’s a large uproar right now following Tr.im’s demise on whether or not anyone should actually be using URL-shorteners just in case something like this happens."

There’s a large uproar right now following Tr.im’s demise on whether or not anyone should actually be using URL-shorteners just in case something like this happens. [...snip...] But an archive of these links that is maintained outside any one service could help put people’s minds at ease.
via techcrunch.com

Yes, I was a tr.im user. It was a great service and now they're holding my links hostage because they could not figure out how to monetize the service. Hopefully a company like bit.ly will step up and pony up enough ransom to free them. Aaahhh perhaps that is the URL shortener industry's new monetization approach. Get competitors to buy you out if your shutdown threatens credibility of the entire sector...