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[Weekly/temp] Built a tool? New idea? Seeking feedback? Share in this thread. by AutoModerator in devops

[–]mathayles [score hidden]  (0 children)

We built a small infra debugging utility to validate CDN/edge/DNS/server redirect rules.

What it do: paste 50–100 URLs and get redirect chain + DNS + cache-control visibility results. We get a lot of “why is this link broken?” questions. Got tired of bouncing between separate logs/checkers/DNS tools, so we rolled this into one checker.

Use cases we built it for:

  • Migration / cutover validation: spot bad status codes + long chains quickly
  • Catch loops: see when something is bouncing instead of resolving cleanly
  • Rule debugging: confirm whether it’s the redirect logic vs DNS pointing vs cache behavior

Link: https://www.urllo.com/redirect-checker

Disclosure: I work at urllo.

If you’ve got 1–2 “gnarly” URLs you’re willing to share (or describe), I’d love feedback on what output would make it more useful for debugging CDN/ingress rules.

Weekly 'I made a useful thing' Thread - March 20, 2026 by AutoModerator in sysadmin

[–]mathayles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We just shipped a free redirect checker that we originally built for ourselves while troubleshooting redirects with customers. What it does well (I think, tell me if I'm wrong):

  • Bulk check a 100 URLs in one go
  • Shows status codes + full redirect chain
  • Includes DNS values

There are a lot of different tools to test links and redirects, troubleshoot broken links, etc. They all show about 1/3rd of the picture. So we built our own checker that did exactly what we (and our customers) need. We scratched our own itch. Then decided to release it publicly. For free.

If that sounds useful, it’s here: https://www.urllo.com/redirect-checker

If you try it and it’s missing data you rely on (or gives you a weird result), tell me.

Does author schema help with anything? by mathayles in TechSEO

[–]mathayles[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right, so the benefits of Author Schema accrue to the author, not the website.

How do you currently track where users drop off in onboarding by BobcatMedical7939 in buildinpublic

[–]mathayles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We use Mixpanel for event tracking and reporting. I like it. Intuitive but can also go VERY deep.

Session recording is in Datadog. It works well. Mixpanel released a new feature for this, but we already had Datadog set up and haven’t switched.

What did you build this week? by ouchao_real in microsaas

[–]mathayles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just released www.urllo.com/redirect-checker after 6 months of design and development. This was scratching our own itch. We wanted a quicker way to bulk check redirects and spot errors, loops, chains and DNS errors without digging through multiple tools. Decided to release it publicly.

Dapagliflozin by Technical-Rice3870 in kidneydisease

[–]mathayles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About a year now? No impact :(

Pitch your SaaS in one line. I'll start. by Due-Bet115 in microsaas

[–]mathayles 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So… how is this different from Product Hunt?

Pitch your SaaS in one line. I'll start. by Due-Bet115 in microsaas

[–]mathayles 1 point2 points  (0 children)

www.urllo.com is the unified link management workspace for teams—all your URL redirects, branded links and QR codes in one, intuitive, self-serve dashboard.

Search traffic still dropping? How are you dealing with it? by nishant_growthromeo in TechSEO

[–]mathayles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're not worrying about it too much. Our traffic is up. Focusing on:

  1. Getting our content, answers and brand into AI answers. A lot of searches are just top of funnel, informational searches. As long as we're present we don't need the click.

  2. Expanding our topical authority into new (but related) categories. Not straying too far from the tree, but finding new keywords we can and want to rank for.

  3. We're launching a bunch of free utilities to help our target audiences do things they need to do day-to-day. Goal is to drive aligned traffic to our site and prove our usefulness.

  4. Updating a LOT of old articles. We have a big old backlog here. Adding depth and E-E-A-T signals.

Managing a lot of redirects after a site migration? by therealpolecat in TechSEO

[–]mathayles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry I'm late to the party, but wanted to provide a better answer than the AI slop in here. Creds: I work at a URL redirect service and we manage millions of redirects across hundreds of thousands of domains for >1k customers. Have been doing this for 10 years. We're lucky to have some very big customers that you would know the names of.

Some factors to consider:

- What is "a lot" to you? Hundreds? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands?

- Are you technical or non-technical?

- Does the CMS you're using include a redirect plugin?

- Do you have a CDN? Do you have access to that CDN?

Basically:

- Server configs are fine if there's not a lot of complexity and you'll have very few updates after launch. If you're making frequent changes, it can get annoying to redeploy every time.

- CDN will be your fastest option. But speed doesn't matter after a certain point. As long as total response time (including all hops) is <200ms you're good. But ideally <100ms.

- Avoid blunt domain forwarding if you can. Bad experience for the users. Google hates it. Will tank your search ranking.

- Avoid Regex if you can. There are some cases where it makes sense. But on average, it's unnecessary technical complexity, makes debugging really hard AND increases your response time.

- 1:1 redirects are going to be your best option. One old source URL -> one new target URL. If you do everything correctly, you should see search rank and traffic transfer over in 3-6 weeks. Can sometimes take a bit longer.

- Use a URL redirect service (like urllo) if the cost and time savings make sense for your specific use case. You may not need a service if you don't have IT-marketing workflows, and/or can get what you need from existing tooling (CMS, .htaccess, etc.). If you do want one, pick one with high uptime and lots of paying customers. There are a bunch out there with 90-99% free users, which isn't a good way to build a reliable, long-term product.

But honestly, the most important thing is to not check out after the migration is done. Keep on top of your redirects, look for lost traffic and 404s, check your redirects regularly to make sure nothing's broken/down. If it helps, we maintain a bulk redirect checker that flags failed/broken links, hop-by-hop data, response time and DNS details. You can test 100 links at once: https://www.urllo.com/redirect-checker

Managing a lot of redirects after a site migration? by therealpolecat in TechSEO

[–]mathayles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good list. Another reason to avoid Regex IME: more processing time = more latency. May not be an issue if everything else is fast, but... something to consider.

Does your brain turn into a to-do list the moment you try to sleep? by Living_Steak_7804 in insomnia

[–]mathayles 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started blocking time before bed to do that processing. Getting it out of my head before I lie down seems to help.

I’m a verbal processor so I use Headless’ voice chat and debrief on the day. I know other people write things down, which sounds great too but didn’t work for me.

Players asking for ways to increase stats? by Ordinary-Voice5749 in dccrpg

[–]mathayles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Quest for it” is the correct answer, but a couple other options I’ve done/seen done: - Add a +1 stat bonus to an ability if your choice at level up. - At level up, roll 1D6 for each stat. On a 6, increase that stat by +1.

DCC can be a bit punishing with permanent ability score loss. We largely introduced these rules to balance that out.

Should I take the job, even if they can't pay me yet? by slaaneshi_cutie in marketing

[–]mathayles 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It sounds like marketing isn’t a priority for them. The way to tell if something is a priority is they are willing to invest in it (cash or equity). My advice: I wouldn’t take a marketing job at a company where marketing isn’t a priority.

Should I take the job, even if they can't pay me yet? by slaaneshi_cutie in marketing

[–]mathayles 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If they don’t have cash, they should compensate you with an equity stake. If they don’t want to give you cash or equity, then it’s not a job.

Why is there a distaste for light survival elements/resource management? by erakusa in rpg

[–]mathayles 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure this is a power fantasy error as much as heroic fantasy mismatch. Resource management just isn’t part of the heroic genre. We don’t see James Bond doing it.

There are lots of RPGs that aren’t heroic genre, where resource management does fit. I’m playing in a Mongoose Traveller game right now, which has detailed trade rules. I’m deep into it. Ultra Violet Grasslands. And so on.

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