http://u.qdnx.org/file/laemeur-20150121T123034-257etr9.html

1) Sure, but why is the 140-character limit even still around? #Twitter presumably did it for SMS compatibility, but why do #Fediverse sites do it? For Twitter compatibility? That's ridiculous. 140-character limits are Twitter's problem, not ours. If people are going to cross-post to Twitter, their Twitter bridge should split long posts up into multiple tweets; don't foul-up the Fediverse with Twitter's arbitrary limitations, I say.
2) That's really not the point. URL shorteners exist because of crappy software/system design. Just because some microblogs and email clients can't deal with full URLs, that doesn't mean we should all add an extra layer of indirection on top of DNS to appease those users. *They* should be persuaded to use software/systems that don't suck.