META⚠️ IMPORTANT UPDATE, PLEASE READ AND GIVE INPUT!⚠️

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[–]RippoffOfLoveSStraight | Overuses quotation marks 8 insightful - 2 fun8 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 2 fun -  (15 children)

The domains aren't in our possession? That is not ideal.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (14 children)

Yeah ... I am definitely regretting putting my trust in them now and letting them set everything up.

Are we hosed? Do we have any recourse other than buying a different domain?

This is outside my skill and knowledge set.

It's probably a fools hope, but maybe we wait and hope they let the domains expire and don't repurchase after the year, so we can swoop in and grab them? But as we grow, they wouldn't want to give that up, so ...

Yeah, I fucked this up didn't I :( :( :(

[–]MarkJeffersonTight defenses and we draw the line 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

Grab a .net or .org and arrange for one of those to point to the host instead so users don't get used to the unsecure .com's? They are still available. Not quite as sweet as a .com, but many sites(like this one) use those without issues. I mean, at the same time it couldn't hurt to attempt to get the others under your control; And possibly doing a migration(mostly just getting the site's userbase to change their habits/bookmarks) to those in the future if successful.

I mean, they might not allow another domain used for some arbitrary reason, but then it'll be crystal clear they are trying to throw a monkey wrench into the thing.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I can buy other domains, but how do I do that without revealing who I am? Don't I have to share my real information when I purchase and register, which then becomes public knowledge through who-is lookups and all?

When you say grab another site and point it to the host, I understand the words you're saying and what they mean, but I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to create or run a server. I don't know what it means to work with Cloudflare or other networks. I don't know how files get put onto a machine (or cloud), or how to set up a database. But if you give me some Python or Javascript, or a language I don't know but can learn, I will dig into that all day every day.

We're talking about different sides of the tech world. And I don't *get* that particular side of it, which is why we went with someone who did and *seemed* to be established until the past month showed otherwise.

I could have rewritten the site myself if they would stop whining and just pointed me towards a file or path to review and get into. It would take forever, but I could and I would. But once we get into machines/hardware or virtual reality/software of the internet, it's beyond me.

I really mean it when I say this is outside my skill. I'm in tech due to personal interest, but I'm not an IT person by trade or even a professional dev. I'm a self-taught code monkey.

[–]reluctant_commenter 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I can buy other domains, but how do I do that without revealing who I am? Don't I have to share my real information when I purchase and register, which then becomes public knowledge through who-is lookups and all?

I know there's a way to get Whois protection, but I'm not sure how difficult it is. (edit: RipoffOfLove addressed this issue here) I included in my other comment-- I think that this, actually, is the biggest barrier to us hosting our own site. I know you're concerned about the technical expertise aspect but I mean, hey, learning on the internet is cheap. (And I'm down to do it, anyway!)

I really mean it when I say this is outside my skill. I'm in tech due to personal interest, but I'm not an IT person by trade or even a professional dev. I'm a self-taught code monkey.

I hear you. You've done a ton already; I appreciate it. This isn't really my area either, to be honest, but I'm not convinced yet that we need a professional in order to launch a website.

[–]MarkJeffersonTight defenses and we draw the line 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Sorry for the delay.

I can buy other domains, but how do I do that without revealing who I am? Don't I have to share my real information when I purchase and register, which then becomes public knowledge through who-is lookups and all?

There is a privacy service registrars offer. There has to be contact information (email, address etc) but they can act as the third party and provide proxies to keep the customer's real info from being visible. Yes, the third party(the domain registrar) will still have all the contact info the customer has to provide. And I suppose they can be more or less susceptible to be strong-armed into revealing it to other parties, depending on the company. But I suppose the more third party(middle men) layers you can manage to put between yourself and public visibility(if that is at all possible), the more difficult it will be to get to your info.

But if you give me some Python or Javascript, or a language I don't know but can learn, I will dig into that all day every day.

Oh yeah, the latter is the one I know a wee bit of. True, that the internet space is a different beast altogether and I understand how it can be confusing. But pointing to nameservers from domains is relatively easy for people who decide to acquire one. It is done on the Registrar's site and an example of a nameserver would be something like this: ns01.000webhost.com (for 000webhost.com).

Your particular webhost will be the ones giving you the nameserver(s) that can be pointed to; And that will find the servers which provide resources for your website. That has to be arranged with the webhost.

[–]RippoffOfLoveSStraight | Overuses quotation marks 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Hey, don't panic. I think it's more important that the current domain hasn't been established yet. The biggest concern in my opinion is establishing that our space is one domain and then having to move down the road because rDrama owns it. So it's good we're talking about it now.

It can technically be sniped like that after the expiration, but there will likely be others that think to do the same. And they will almost certainly have worse intentions than anyone at rDrama. Also some registrars renew expired domains and park it for the owner in case they decide they wish to renew it after the fact. Just something to be aware of. So yeah, I would NOT count on sniping the domain.

The other two options are either coordinate with someone at rDrama to transfer the domain, or cut your losses and find a new domain. Better to do that sooner rather than later.

On the topic of anonymity- in doing some research, it's possible to remain anonymous but I don't think you can also truly own the domain in that case. There's Njalla for example. May be a worthwhile compromise.

[–]reluctant_commenter 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I think it's more important that the current domain hasn't been established yet. The biggest concern in my opinion is establishing that our space is one domain and then having to move down the road because rDrama owns it. So it's good we're talking about it now.

That makes sense, that's what I was thinking as well. Other people have tried to pretend to be us before, anyway (e.g. that "LGBDTT" group that was over on Ruqqus).

Also some registrars renew expired domains and park it for the owner in case they decide they wish to renew it after the fact. Just something to be aware of.

I've read about that. Such BS, lol. (Like Namecheap or GoDaddy or those other companies, I'm assuming you mean.)

On the topic of anonymity- in doing some research, it's possible to remain anonymous but I don't think you can also truly own the domain in that case. There's Njalla for example. May be a worthwhile compromise.

I'll do some reading as well. If you have any articles/sources you'd recommend reading or keywords to search, I'd be happy to hear.

[–]RippoffOfLoveSStraight | Overuses quotation marks 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Like Namecheap or GoDaddy or those other companies, I'm assuming you mean.

Bingo! GoDaddy was the exact registrar I was thinking of. It's a nice feature if you legitimately forget to renew a domain, but would be an additional obstacle for us.

If you have any articles/sources you'd recommend

This is the one I was reading that mentions Njalla. Which I was willing to mention by name because it (Njalla) was developed by The Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde.

Before the news dropped that s/lgbdropthet was working with rDrama, the other option I was researching was Tor's .onion or I2P (or both). These solutions (at least on their own) would absolutely suck for visibility, but would be great for anonymity.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

rDrama got our domains through Namecheap, so I guess they're one of the ones that will hold onto it for a while after it expires?

I don't know anything about how Tor/onion or I2P / P2P works.

[–]RippoffOfLoveSStraight | Overuses quotation marks 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

so I guess they're one of the ones that will hold onto it for a while after it expires?

Not sure if namecheap does this domain parking thing. And to be frank, trying to snatch it up when it expires is not a great plan.

I don't know anything about how Tor/onion or I2P / P2P works.

The appeal of Tor/I2P is that the host can be anonymous. That makes it possible to self-host without exposing the server's IP (and therefore general physical location and possibly personal identity of whoever owns the hardware). Domains on these networks aren't registered in the same way that domains on the clear net are registered, either. No need to provide PII for a domain. That's the short of it.

This comes back to the initial conversation on privacy and trust. This all started moving because Saidit was no longer considered trustworthy, after all. Private conversations on here can be read by site admins. But they can probably be read by the hosting provider, which is likely a third party. The plan was to put that trust in rDrama and their hosting provider instead. And with the links being posted by Carp, that trust was perhaps misplaced. So if you ask me, going forward we should eliminate these middlemen at the very least. If we're paying for a hosting platform, the people managing the hosting service should be people inside our community. If we want to limit access even further than that, then we should consider self hosting.

I'm up for exploring hosting platforms since it would be no worse for privacy than rDrama running everything. And as long as expressing the views held here is legal in the countries that we're doing business in, total anonymity isn't super important. Just enough anonymity that the crazies can't identify us.

-edit-

I should also add that I think users' anonymity should be valued over their privacy. If you want private conversations, seek out an E2E encrypted platform outside of saidit. Assume everything posted here is public.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Was just reading up about Njalla, seems pretty good, and there's also that the Pirate Bay creator is the front man for it. Looks like they only accept crypto and PayPal though, and PayPal wouldn't guarantee privacy.

The ladies at Ovarit are using a company called Porkbun who does the same thing ... Porkbun is out of Oregon though, so since they're in the US, I think long-term privacy and protection would be a concern.

[–]RippoffOfLoveSStraight | Overuses quotation marks 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's good to know about Ovarit. Though it looks like all Porkbun provides is standard WhoIs protection (someone correct me if I'm wrong), which only works as long as nobody's trying to sue you. Njalla gets around this by being the "owner" of the domain. Here's what their FAQ page has to say:

We're not actually a domain name registration service, we're a customer to these. We sit in between the domain name registration service and you, acting as a privacy shield. When you purchase a domain name through Njalla, we own it for you. However, the agreement between us grants you full usage rights to the domain. Whenever you want to, you can transfer the ownership to yourself or some other party.

[–]PenseePansyBio-Sex or Bust 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, I fucked this up didn't I :( :( :(

Please don't blame yourself for this! All you've done to keep this place going... we owe you so much <3