Who owns http://hackerne.ws

http://yvolos.blogspot.com/2009/08/who-owns-httphackernews.html

by volida • 17 years ago

30 39 17 years ago

yvolos.blogspot.com

sh1mmer4• 17 years ago

If the only reason is shortness of typing, why don't you use a bookmark? Even s60 browsers have those.

Sometimes you have to access something from cybercafes. I bought qwertqwert.com so I could access "Dvorak anywhere" quickly with a qwerty keyboard.

sh1mmer4• 17 years ago

Except that you don't seem to be doing anything with it.

hrishi• 17 years ago

google 'hn'.

rms• 17 years ago

With autocomplete, typing can be faster than a bookmark when all you have to do is type "h" then press down and ok.

simonsarris• 17 years ago

Amusingly, all I do is type "n" and then press enter, and Google Chrome takes me here using the normal address.

chaosprophet• 17 years ago

I just type "Hacker news" into the awesomebar of Firefox and Google does the rest.

Dobbs• 17 years ago

For vimperator users you can use marks:

    'M<a-z>' where <a-z> is the letter you want, to set the mark.

Then:

    'go<a-z>' to open in the current tab.
    'gn<a-z>' for a new tab.

qeorge• 17 years ago

Its a good example of how poorly Google's duplicate content filter works[1]. But I agree, its quite deceptive.

[1]http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ahackerne.ws

snprbob862• 17 years ago

Why not donate the domain to YCombinator?

Zev• 17 years ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=84040 (found via http://searchyc.com/hackerne.ws?sort=by_date_r) — Sounds like he's offered to do so in the past.

volida• 17 years ago

Like Zev pointed out, I am willing to do so.

cookiecaper• 17 years ago

Why should he donate it? He should sell it. If PG decides it adds usefulness, guy should at least get the purchase price back, if not more.

Obviously it's just a convenient domain name, so he won't sell it for a lot of money, but should sell it for _something_. PG can afford a reasonably priced domain, I think.

snprbob862• 17 years ago

Or, PG could easily block it, rendering it useless.

ratsbane• 17 years ago

PG could configure the news.ycombinator.com server to return a 301 to any request which has a HOST header that's not news.ycombinator.com - either that or hardcode the domain name in links.

I'm sure that Volida's motives are honest as he stated but this practice - buying a domain name that sounds like something popular and setting the A records to the intended site - has the potential to be used maliciously. All you'd have to do is wait for traffic to grow and then, in time, switch the DNS records to your own site. Of course, the HTTPS pages are going to show certificate problems while your A record is pointing at the original target - but many users will just go ahead and accept bad certificates.

How would a legitimate site owner defend against this sort of thing? Would the solution I described in the top paragraph be effective? Has this ever been done maliciously?

erlanger• 17 years ago

> Of course, the HTTPS pages

What HTTPS pages?

jey2• 17 years ago

The hypothetical ones.

gila• 17 years ago

I don't know too much about web whatnots but couldn't this be done through virtualhosts? like say ip/other domains go to nothing or another place, domain.tld/subd.domain.tld goes to the main website?

Or am I mistaken and this circumvents that?

tlrobinson• 17 years ago

Sure, if he wanted to block it completely. Or he could just do the redirect with a simple check of the Host header.

chanux2• 17 years ago

I do not see a need of short or fancy URL for HN.

BUT

since it's out there and the owner is willing to donate, I think it's better PG getting it.

joubert• 17 years ago

1) I don't think the domain adds a wide spread value (if any). 2) Dunno why people are getting their panties in a knot.

Hexstream• 17 years ago

"Well, I don't plan in doing any kind of man-in-middle attack. Neither I am planning to selling the domain to a 3rd party."

Well, I still think it's irresponsible to provide or use such a "service". I can't think it's good for security if people get in the habit of relying on potentially unreliable third-parties just for the heck of it.

Why ask people to trust that you have only good intentions when that wouldn't even be necessary if you didn't provide a (IMHO less than worthless) "service"?

I might sound harsh, but the whole matter just reeks of sloppiness to me.

christefano• 17 years ago

Thank you for posting this.

Since the domain is registered at GoDaddy, it's trivial to set up a redirect. Just select the domain and click the "Forward" button.

By the way, for someone who prefers to remain anonymous you don't make it very easy to post anonymously on your weblog.

Who owns http://hackerne.ws

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