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We do. But with free TLD's, spammers and scammers can create an unlimited number of new domains at zero cost. That's the problem. They can send a single spam UR

We do. But with free TLD's, spammers and scammers can create an unlimited number of new domains at zero cost. That's the problem. They can send a single spam URL to a single person and scale that out, each person gets a unique domain and URL.

gnfargbl 4y ago
OK, but why don't you block Freenom domains entirely? Apart from perhaps a couple of sites like gob.gq, there's essentially nothing of any value on those TLDs. Allow-list the handful of good sites, if you must, and default block the rest.
- ronnier 4y ago
  I could. But we are talking about one of the worlds largest social media platforms used by hundreds of millions of people daily. There’s legit websites hosted on these free domains and I don’t want to kill those along with the scam sites. I’ve mostly got the scam sites blocked at this point though. Just took me a week or so to adapt.
  - gnfargbl 4y ago
    > There’s legit websites hosted on these free domains Are there though, really? Can you give some examples? To a first approximation, I contend that essentially everything on Freenom is bad. There are maybe a handful of good sites (the one I listed, https://koulouba.ml/ https://koulouba.ml/, etc) but you can find those on Google in a few minutes with some site: searches. I commend your efforts in blocking the scam sites, but also honestly believe that it would be better for you, your customers and the internet at large to default block Freenom. Freenom sites are junk, wherever they are hosted.
    - ronnier 4y ago
      Here's NSFW scam sites behind CF that use free TLDs. I could post 10s of thousands of these. * https://atragcara.ga https://atragcara.ga * https://donaga.tk https://donaga.tk * https://snatemhatzemerbedc.tk https://snatemhatzemerbedc.tk
      - gnfargbl 4y ago
        Yep, I know. I monitor these as they appear in Certificate Transparency logs and DNS PTR records. Freenom TLDs are just junk. Save yourself the hassle and default block :-).
        ronnier 4y ago
        Seems these sites should be blocked on CF, at the root. Not all the leaf nodes apps. It’s pretty easy for me to automate it at my company. Seems CF could?
elorant 4y ago
So how about blocking the users then? Or limit their ability to post links.
- ronnier 4y ago
  That's done too. But it's not just a few, it's literally 10s of thousands of individuals from places like Bangladesh who do this as their source of income. They are smart, on real devices, will solve any puzzle you throw at them, and will adapt to any blocks or locking. It's not an easy problem to solve which is why no platform has solved it (oddly, spam is pretty much non existent on HN)
  - elorant 4y ago
    I don't think there's any benefit in spamming HN. There aren't that many users in here, and it could lead to a backlash consider the technical expertise of most people.

gnfargbl 4y ago

OK, but why don't you block Freenom domains entirely? Apart from perhaps a couple of sites like gob.gq, there's essentially nothing of any value on those TLDs. Allow-list the handful of good sites, if you must, and default block the rest.

ronnier 4y ago
I could. But we are talking about one of the worlds largest social media platforms used by hundreds of millions of people daily. There’s legit websites hosted on these free domains and I don’t want to kill those along with the scam sites. I’ve mostly got the scam sites blocked at this point though. Just took me a week or so to adapt.
- gnfargbl 4y ago
  > There’s legit websites hosted on these free domains Are there though, really? Can you give some examples? To a first approximation, I contend that essentially everything on Freenom is bad. There are maybe a handful of good sites (the one I listed, https://koulouba.ml/ https://koulouba.ml/, etc) but you can find those on Google in a few minutes with some site: searches. I commend your efforts in blocking the scam sites, but also honestly believe that it would be better for you, your customers and the internet at large to default block Freenom. Freenom sites are junk, wherever they are hosted.
  - ronnier 4y ago
    Here's NSFW scam sites behind CF that use free TLDs. I could post 10s of thousands of these. * https://atragcara.ga https://atragcara.ga * https://donaga.tk https://donaga.tk * https://snatemhatzemerbedc.tk https://snatemhatzemerbedc.tk
    - gnfargbl 4y ago
      Yep, I know. I monitor these as they appear in Certificate Transparency logs and DNS PTR records. Freenom TLDs are just junk. Save yourself the hassle and default block :-).
      - ronnier 4y ago
        Seems these sites should be blocked on CF, at the root. Not all the leaf nodes apps. It’s pretty easy for me to automate it at my company. Seems CF could?

elorant 4y ago

So how about blocking the users then? Or limit their ability to post links.

ronnier 4y ago
That's done too. But it's not just a few, it's literally 10s of thousands of individuals from places like Bangladesh who do this as their source of income. They are smart, on real devices, will solve any puzzle you throw at them, and will adapt to any blocks or locking. It's not an easy problem to solve which is why no platform has solved it (oddly, spam is pretty much non existent on HN)
- elorant 4y ago
  I don't think there's any benefit in spamming HN. There aren't that many users in here, and it could lead to a backlash consider the technical expertise of most people.