Bookmark or keep a list
Storage sounds like the boring decision and it decides how often you end up somewhere you did not intend.
A dated list somewhere you control
- What you gain
- You see the full string every time, you can note where each came from, and you can prune it.
- What you give up
- You have to open a file rather than click a favourite.
- Suits
- Everyone.
A browser bookmark
- What you gain
- One click, always there.
- What you give up
- It hides the address behind a name you chose, which removes the moment you would have noticed it changed. Often synced to an account as well.
- Suits
- Nobody, for this. Bookmark a reference page if you want a shortcut, not an address.
Memory
- What you gain
- Nothing to store.
- What you give up
- Nobody recalls fifty six characters, and near enough is precisely the failure being exploited.
- Suits
- Nobody.
Why the hidden string matters
A forged address matches the opening characters, because that is cheap, and differs somewhere in the middle, because matching the whole thing is impossible. So the only thing that catches it is looking at the middle, and a bookmark showing you a name you typed shows you nothing at all.
A list also lets you do the thing that actually protects you, which is deleting entries. An address that has dropped off the published set and stayed on your list is the exact thing that gets picked up by somebody else, because it arrives with years of recognition attached.
What to write down beside each one
- Where it came from. One word. Later this is the difference between judging and guessing.
- The date you got it. Also one word, and it ages the entry for you.
- Whether you have checked it. A single mark, so you know which entries are leads and which are confirmed.
What tips it
How often you check in. Somebody who visits weekly will notice a change with or without a list. Somebody who visits twice a year is exactly the reader a stale bookmark is waiting for, and they are also the reader least likely to have a list. Comparing what you hold against the published set every few weeks takes under a minute and is the whole maintenance burden.