From time to time we get spammers posting links disguised by bitly. You can usually spot these guys because they pepper multiple topics with the same ‘click bait’ blurb and bitly link. Don’t give them the satisfaction of a click. A dead giveaway is someone does this within a few minutes of joining the forum. Then the only time you ever see them again is when they post another link disguised by bitly.
If you want to preview the bitly link without donating a click to the spammer do the following. Copy/paste the bitly llink into another browser tab and add a + sign to the end of the link. For example:
For the link http://bit.ly/something just enter http://bit.ly/something+ into your browser
You’ll be sent to a preview page for the link. You will see what it is and the spammer doesn’t get a click from you. Better yet, ignore a bitly link and flag the post as possible spam.
Finally, don’t use bitly on the forum. Post direct links.