I know of three alternative techniques that make generating TinyURL links faster and easier. I highly recommend the first one, and the following two are still much less of a hassle than doing everything manually.
(1) TinyURL Creator extension (for Firefox).
In Firefox, go to http://tinyurl.com/
(2) TinyURL bookmarklet (for most mainstream browsers).
In your browser, go to http://tinyurl.com/
(3) TinyURL Keyword Search (for Firefox -- an equivalent technique may exist for other browsers):
* In Firefox, go to http://tinyurl.com.
* Right-click inside the text box underneath "Enter a long URL to make tiny."
* In the right-click context menu, choose "Add a Keyword for this Search..."
* In the dialog that pops up, enter Name = TinyURL and Keyword = tu (or tiny or whatever other keyword you will remember)
* In "Create In," choose a bookmarks folder and save. (The one usually recommended for this special type of bookmark is called "'Quick Searches," but it really doesn't matter where you save it unless you care about how your bookmarks are organized.)
Once you have done this, you will be able to generate a TinyURL for whatever page you are on by: clicking inside the browser's address bar on the left; typing in your keyword followed by a space in front of the current URL; hitting enter. Doing this will navigate you away from the original page to TinyURL.com; you will have to copy the newly generated TinyURL link manually.
I hope this these tips are helpful to at least a few members and will result in fewer broken links for everyone.
All the best.
Peter Craig Martin
Seattle, Washington, USA