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?
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 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 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.
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.
