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1. Embed this notice
   Kevin Beaumont (gossithedog@cyberplace.social)'s status on Monday, 12-Feb-2024 21:08:09 JST Kevin Beaumont

   Queer.af mastodon instance has been shut down by the Taliban (not a joke, they seized the domain name).

   • clacke repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 12-Feb-2024 21:39:56 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog Alt-text:

     queer.af has been suspended in the registry
     and will no longer be included in zone file
     generation. This means that any services
     connected with this domain, such as
     websites or email addresses will cease
     working shortly.

     Please contact your registrar if you have any
     questions about this process. Your registrar's
     details are as follows:

     Name: Gandi SAS

     (1/2)

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 12-Feb-2024 21:41:03 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog Alt-text (cont; 2/2):

     Website: https://www.gandi.net
     Email: support-en@support.gandi.net
     Phone: +33.(1)70.37.78.80

     Fax: +33.(1)43.73.18.51

     Address: 63-65 boulevard Massena
     Paris 75013

     Ministry of Communications and IT
     Mohammad Jan Khan Watt
     Kabul
     Afghanistan

   • Embed this notice
     Winter Trabex (trabex@newsie.social)'s status on Monday, 12-Feb-2024 22:32:01 JST Winter Trabex

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog

     How is that even possible?

   • Embed this notice
     Winter Trabex (trabex@newsie.social)'s status on Monday, 12-Feb-2024 22:42:50 JST Winter Trabex

     @GossiTheDog

     No, I mean, logistically, how can they go in and seize someone else's domain and shut it down?

   • Embed this notice
     Lina Inver?e (lina@eientei.org)'s status on Monday, 12-Feb-2024 23:53:16 JST Lina Inver?e

     in reply to
     @GossiTheDog based taliban
   • Embed this notice
     Chris P. :trek_ds9_sisko:#1️⃣ (b4ux1t3@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 00:15:45 JST Chris P. :trek_ds9_sisko:#1️⃣

     in reply to

     • JR Freeman

     @JRFreeman @GossiTheDog the content is still there, the servers probably weren't hosted in Afghanistan.

     It's as simple as purchasing a new domain name, updating your certs, changing some server settings (to reference the new domain in generated links) and sending an email to your users with the new domain in it.

     Like, this is actually one of those things in IT that doesn't have a lot of hidden complexity: the process I described is the _whole process_.

   • Embed this notice
     JR Freeman (jrfreeman@stranger.social)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 00:15:46 JST JR Freeman

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog
     Welcome to fedi, where yOu OwN yOuR cOnTeNt

   • Embed this notice
     David Fetter (davidfetter@kolektiva.social)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 00:33:41 JST David Fetter

     • Chris P. :trek_ds9_sisko:#1️⃣
     • JR Freeman

     @GossiTheDog @b4ux1t3 @JRFreeman that's a mastodon bug, and not in scope for this discussion. The idea that a domain couldn't be contested is some pretty privileged-ass nonsense, as are many design decisions made by the people who created mastodon.

   • Embed this notice
     Chris P. :trek_ds9_sisko:#1️⃣ (b4ux1t3@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 00:40:58 JST Chris P. :trek_ds9_sisko:#1️⃣

     • David Fetter
     • JR Freeman

     @GossiTheDog @davidfetter @JRFreeman Hold on, am I understanding correctly that it's not hard requirement of mastodon, just. . ."they haven't gotten to it yet"?

     If so, my original point stands, with the addition of "Mastodon has to implement basic functionality that even my own personal crappy websites support" ;)

   • Embed this notice
     Chris P. :trek_ds9_sisko:#1️⃣ (b4ux1t3@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 00:44:18 JST Chris P. :trek_ds9_sisko:#1️⃣

     @GossiTheDog Yeah, I get that, I already edited my post to make it clear that I know it's not that "easy". Sorry, I realized the tone could be mistaken a bit too late.

   • Embed this notice
     Puniko ? (puniko@mk.absturztau.be)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 00:56:55 JST Puniko ?

     in reply to

     • lettuce :godot:

     @thelettuceman@mastodon.gamedev.place @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social not without starting from scratch. changing domains an an existing setup is messing with federation like crazy

   • Embed this notice
     lettuce :godot: (thelettuceman@mastodon.gamedev.place)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 00:56:57 JST lettuce :godot:

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog what now? I'm assuming the website itself isn't hosted in Afghanistan, so can they just go live again under a different URL?

   • Embed this notice
     Suji Yan (sujiyan@mstdn.jp)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 01:08:11 JST Suji Yan

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog domain is centralized and subject to a state power. Need to change that.

   • Embed this notice
      (mint@ryona.agency)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 02:29:01 JST 

     in reply to

     • JR Freeman
     @JRFreeman @GossiTheDog No one said that except the most clueless. Your webserver-level block does nothing, btw.
     Screenshot_20240212_202817.png
   • Embed this notice
      (mint@ryona.agency)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 02:35:51 JST 

     in reply to

     • Zergling_man
     • JR Freeman
     @Zergling_man @GossiTheDog @JRFreeman I assumed it's the admin, apparently not.
   • Embed this notice
     Zergling_man (zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 02:35:52 JST Zergling_man

     in reply to

     • 
     • JR Freeman
     @mint @JRFreeman @GossiTheDog It's very tempting to take a shot at you for posting inane nerd shit that nobody cares about.
   • Embed this notice
     Harris👍Trump👎 (ve2uwy@mastodon.radio)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 02:52:34 JST Harris👍Trump👎

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog

     "Seized the domain name" may be overstating it. .af is the country code top-level domain for Afghanistan (much as .tv is for Tuvalu). The Afghan government has control over who can use that cc-TLD & they've changed the rules.

     Now, of course, it's the *%W# Taliban, so it's not like they are going to be in any way sympathetic to… anything… but it *is* their ccTLD.

     Since you can actually buy a TLD now (new & kinda breaks the hierarchical nature of the DNS…), just buy .asfuck.

   • Embed this notice
     Wraithe (wraithe@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 02:58:06 JST Wraithe

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog Just a reminder to folks; the ability to move your posts from one instance to another has been an open request for over four years now for Mastodon (LOOOOOONG convo):

     https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/12423

     Long overdue, IMO.

   • Embed this notice
     Wraithe (wraithe@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 03:14:10 JST Wraithe

     @GossiTheDog Yeah, that doesn’t help you if your server out of the blue just vaporizes.*
     OTOH, IIRC the queer.af folks warned that this could be coming.

     *Well, some of us are paranoid and download our user data on a monthly(if I remember) basis. 😂

   • Embed this notice
     georgia (georgia@netzsphaere.xyz)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 16:16:14 JST georgia

     in reply to
     @GossiTheDog didn't the instance already shut down though
   • Embed this notice
     David Fetter (davidfetter@kolektiva.social)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Feb-2024 20:27:06 JST David Fetter

     • Chris P. :trek_ds9_sisko:#1️⃣
     • JR Freeman

     @GossiTheDog @b4ux1t3 @JRFreeman there absolutely fucking well was that presumption because this issue simply could not arise in the absence of that presumption.

   • Embed this notice
     0x50fb4e8c (x50fb4e8c@baraag.net)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 13:40:28 JST 0x50fb4e8c

     in reply to

     • Suji Yan
     • The Tor Project
     • rogercan

     @rogercan @Sujiyan @GossiTheDog

     @torproject is way ahead of you on this one

     and so is #ENS

     both offer a decentralized DNS alternative

   • Embed this notice
     Suji Yan (sujiyan@mstdn.jp)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 13:40:28 JST Suji Yan

     in reply to

     • Suji Yan
     • The Tor Project
     • 0x50fb4e8c
     • rogercan

     @x50fb4e8c @rogercan @Sujiyan @GossiTheDog @torproject yes I know both core team.
     Nym is having interesting things on tor

   • Embed this notice
     rogercan (rogercan@mastodon.world)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 13:40:30 JST rogercan

     in reply to

     • Suji Yan

     @Sujiyan @GossiTheDog is it possible?

     if not is there any workaround?

   • Embed this notice
     Matthew Skelton (matthewskelton@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:27:58 JST Matthew Skelton

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog "who owns or controls the registry for the TLD" seems a fairly important consideration for domain names, tbf

   • Embed this notice
     craftycat (craftycat@mastodon.scot)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:27:58 JST craftycat

     in reply to

     • Matthew Skelton

     @matthewskelton @GossiTheDog Sadly this seems to be a thing a lot of people miss, I see a lot of commentary framing this as a Taliban specific issue, which in reality isn't. A lot of TLDs have specific requirements, and the country coded ones are often a lot more specific. In THIS case it's a Taliban issue, but it could just as well have been a domain being removed because the owner lives in the wrong place.

     clacke likes this.
     clacke repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Truls (truls46@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:01 JST Truls

     in reply to

     • craftycat

     @craftycat

     Correct.

     A recent example on how that can bite was Brexit. Owning a .eu domain requires to be resident inside the EU.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Dan Sloane (dans@mastodon.me.uk)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:05 JST Dan Sloane

     in reply to

     • Truls
     • craftycat

     @truls46 @craftycat Yep. I didn't get any refunds on my .eu. Just another thing to make me grumpy about Brexit

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Stéphane Bortzmeyer (bortzmeyer@mastodon.gougere.fr)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:10 JST Stéphane Bortzmeyer

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog Since the authoritative name servers still reply; you can also ask the #DNS resolver administrator to forward requests for queer.af to kiki.bunny.net and coco.bunny.net.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     ikeacurtains (ikeacurtains@mstdn.ca)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:13 JST ikeacurtains

     in reply to

     • Winter Trabex

     @trabex @GossiTheDog they own the TLD "af". Country TLDs have arbitrary rules, and clearly the TLD for Afghanistan, which is owned by the Taliban "government" is not going to look fondly on someone registering "queer" in their domain space. They have full rights to remove it from their domain space. That's how TLD ownership works.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Jane Adams (janeadams@vis.social)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:21 JST Jane Adams

     in reply to

     • FLF

     @Martoni @GossiTheDog "af" is a gen z abbreviation for "as fuck", as in "queer as fuck". Unabashed, badass... but unfortunately they probably did not think through the TLD ownership concerns. I think Gandi even surfaces some of these new TLDs as suggested when other options like "queer . com" were unavailable (not sure about .af specifically though). Lots of sites now use ".io" (British Indian Ocean territories, used because of "input-output") and ".tv" (Tuvalu, used because of "television")

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     FLF (martoni@piaille.fr)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:22 JST FLF

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog But why choose the af domain name?

   • Embed this notice
     Phil Landmeier (shuttersparks@qoto.org)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:26 JST Phil Landmeier

     in reply to

     • Jane Adams
     • FLF

     @janeadams @Martoni @GossiTheDog Agreed. As unbelievable as it might seem to some, I'll bet they didn't think it through.

     Just so y'all know, most of those two-letter TLDs like .af refer to countries. In this case, Afghanistan. The country itself is the owner of that TLD and can decide who can and cannot use it. That's how TLDs were set up long ago and I see nothing wrong with it.

     So think before using one. In all cases you have to to ask yourself two questions before using it. 1) Might my content offend that country? 2) Do I want to appear to be aligned with that country?

     This second one has puzzled me for years. I see two-letter country TLDs on websites that, in my opinion, clearly shouldn't be aligning themselves with that country.

     Bottom line: understand these two-letter TLDs and think before using them.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Luk (luk@mamot.fr)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:29 JST Luk

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog reminds me of the .eu story https://eurid.eu/en/news/brexit-eu-domain-name-holders/

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Clemens aka data (datacop@literatur.social)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:42 JST Clemens aka data

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog "Taliban shuts down Mastodon instance" was definitely not on my checklist for 2024.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Mace Ojala (mace@assemblag.es)'s status on Saturday, 24-Feb-2024 19:28:48 JST Mace Ojala

     in reply to

     @GossiTheDog for those who like themselves some reading, check out Christian Sandvig's 2013 chapter of The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies titled "The Internet as Infrastructure" which talks about bit.ly (.ly=Libya) and Sharia law. Available here http://www-personal.umich.edu/~csandvig/research/Sandvig_The_Internet_as_Infrastructure.pdf