Dumb question: the lengthener prepends the URL with "\x20\x0b" strings which are then not removed on the other end. So the link inserted in the <meta> redirect ends up looking like
so what you're seeing is the creation of a zero width space. When you combine an \x20 and an \x0b, it makes a zero width space, which your browser ends up ignoring. Only reason these are in there are to ensure the URLs are at a minimum length. Who wants a mere 20 character URL when you can have a minimum of 250 characters.
