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Show HN: Obl.ong, Free, quality domains for all

by reesericci on 8/11/23, 3:43 PM with 68 comments

by antran22 on 8/11/23, 6:13 PM
This is a misleading title. Not to attack the merit of the project (it's can still be used to host stuffs), this is not free domain, this is free subdomain.
The main difference is that I don't own the subdomain, and should the organization decide to forgo the domain, my subdomain is also gone. On the other hand, if I buy a domain, my name is attached to it in the registry to denote that I am the "rightful" owner of the domain, and it is going to be way harder for me to lose access to it (I read a post on HN sometimes ago that some governmental cybersec task force can just terminate access to your domain if they deem you are using it for malicious intent, but otherwise you can only deliberately lose the domain)
This is just like a github.io subdomain. IME the only true free domain service is Freenom.
by jcoder on 8/11/23, 5:18 PM
I’m confused about what “quality domains” means here. I’d honestly never heard of the `.ong` TLD, it seems intended for non-governmental organization. If you’re going to sell subdomains as “quality”, why not get a `.com`?
by a9ex on 8/11/23, 5:31 PM
Is anyone using these free subdomains professionally?
A proper .com is only ~$8/year, quite a good deal — is free domains still a problem that needs to be solved?
by Am4TIfIsER0ppos on 8/11/23, 9:59 PM
"For all" but from their cock, I'm sorry, Code of Conduct:
> The use of sexualized language or imagery, and sexual attention or advances of any kind
No porn and probably more
> Publishing others' private information, such as a physical or email address, without their explicit permission
No saying the president of the united states lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
> Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting
No t-shirts and jeans.
> distributing or hosting any adult content, including but not limited to, pornographic images or videos
No porn again
> content which may be illegal under German or Scottish law
No youtube-dl allowed!
> This list is not comprehensive, and we reserve the right to revoke any subdomain at any time
So basically if you piss off the CEO he might wake up one day and boot you off. Say hello cloudflare.
by someone1829 on 8/12/23, 1:37 AM
The people at https://nic.eu.org/ also provide decent free subdomains, only issue is they are manually approved, so may take a while to get a domain.
by andrewfromx on 8/11/23, 5:59 PM
I love this idea. I've registered so many domains over the years only to have that project fail and then feel bad about the money I wasted on "the perfect domain". I would love to try stuff without spending (yes even $8) and get live on the internet with this + letsencrypt !
by p4bl0 on 8/11/23, 5:32 PM
What does OBL mean? Is it just a play on word with "oblong" (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oblong) ?
Anyway, I doubt depending on a unknown project may qualify as "quality" for something as important as you domain name. Especially since having you own domain name can cost less than $10 per year, I don't really see the value in something like this (and I never want to live the Freenom debacle again).
by skybrian on 8/11/23, 5:59 PM
To be clear, this is a way to get a free subdomain of obl.ong. No point in registering if you don’t want that.
by olah_1 on 8/11/23, 6:32 PM
I would rather just use a public key. No need for an entity (no matter how benevolent) to manage my identity for me.
In terms of the vibe that something gives off, stuff is usually "cooler" when it seems like you didn't care that much. A random pubkey is as care-free as it gets.
by denton-scratch on 8/11/23, 5:17 PM
> No password required!
> Login to continue to > Obl.ong > Don't have an account? Register
What did I miss?
by overcast on 8/11/23, 6:32 PM
Can you imagine verbally trying to tell someone your new subdomain from these guys?
by theanonymousone on 8/12/23, 8:22 AM
How do such services deal with the danger of getting totally blacklisted (or worse) because of one malicious subdomain? How do they avoid being held responsible for what happens in the subdomains?
by Brendinooo on 8/11/23, 5:19 PM
The marketing site reads like it wants you to have short-ish, cheap identity; the code of conduct reads like it's trying to make a community. Which is more correct?
by shidayat on 8/11/23, 7:34 PM
if the system is like js.org maybe it will attract many people to use it including me because it is more transparent
by tamimio on 8/11/23, 6:24 PM
That’s subdomain though, not a donain. I remember back in the day .tk domains were completely free, good old days!
by LoganDark on 8/11/23, 5:41 PM
Does this only support hardware security keys...? Not exactly what I expected from "no password".
by isuleman on 8/12/23, 9:37 AM
No thanks. I'll Justs stick to .tk and .ga .. those are actually FREE DOMAINS.