Cloudflare loses 22% of its domains in Freenom .tk shutdown

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Nostalgia for .tk and Early Free Hosting

  • Many recall .tk as their first “real” domain when they were kids without credit cards.
  • Common pattern: early sites on long free-host URLs → free subdomains → finally a “proper” free TLD like .tk → paid domains later.
  • Other nostalgic services mentioned: 8m.com/20m, Tripod, Angelfire, cjb.net, co.nr, co.cc, za.net, .de.vu, .fr.st, .gs, .uni.cc, etc.
  • .tk often wrapped sites in (i)frames and injected banner ads or popups; users shared tricks to hide or strip the ads.
  • Many personal stories of school projects, game clans, anime/DBZ fan sites, self‑hosted servers behind free domains.

Impact of the Freenom / .tk Shutdown

  • Several commenters suddenly lost long‑held .tk domains or could no longer renew or convert to paid.
  • Some see this as a real loss for students/young people who can’t easily pay for domains.
  • Others argue abuse and spam rates were so high that “very little of value has been lost.”
  • Some note that abuse will not disappear; it will move to the next cheapest TLD, and the ecosystem loses a clear “spam signal.”
  • A few legitimate .tk uses (e.g., Tcl’s tcl.tk) appear to persist via paid arrangements, but the situation is described as a “clusterfuck” and “unclear” for keeping legitimate domains alive.

Alternatives to Free TLDs

  • Suggested free options: nic.eu.org, freedns.afraid.org, and other subdomain providers; some report slow or no responses from them.
  • Student‑oriented programs (e.g., via GitHub’s student pack) offer free or discounted domains for limited time.
  • Idea: public schools or governments could provide domains/hosting to students; pushback centers on moderation, administration, and legal liability.

Cloudflare’s Role, Abuse, and “Losses”

  • Many question whether Cloudflare truly “lost” anything: .tk/.cf/.gq domains were likely overwhelmingly on free tiers, so dropping them may reduce costs.
  • Discussion over Cloudflare’s responsibility:
    • Critics say Cloudflare shields scammers, booter/DDOS‑for‑hire services, phishing and extremist sites, and makes abuse reporting intentionally difficult.
    • Defenders say Cloudflare focuses on mitigating incoming attacks, should not be broad content police, and usually acts only under court orders.
  • Some note Cloudflare has, under public pressure, dropped certain high‑profile extremist sites, so the “no moderation” stance already has exceptions.

Risks of Country-Code and Novel TLDs

  • Using ccTLDs (.tk, .rs, .so, .af, etc.) for branding is seen as risky: subject to foreign governments, regime changes, and shifting policies.
  • Contrast drawn between perceived stronger “ownership” of classic gTLDs (.com, .org, etc.) and more precarious ccTLD registrations.
  • Some still favor playful or niche TLDs (.moe, etc.), others prefer politically “boring” namespaces.