Never buy a .online domain

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Google Safe Browsing + Registry Overreach

  • Core issue: the .online registry (Radix) automatically suspended the entire domain (serverHold) when Google Safe Browsing flagged the site, disabling all DNS and making it impossible to complete Google’s verification/appeal flow.
  • Many see this coupling of a browser safety list to registry-level takedowns as catastrophic policy, effectively making the whole TLD unusable for “serious” use.
  • Some argue registries should only act on legal orders, not opaque third‑party blocklists, and at minimum must provide warning and a clear unblocking path.

Liability, Libel, and Centralized Power

  • Long subthread debates whether labeling a site “unsafe” is defamation:
    • One side: it’s an opinion, not a provable statement of fact, so not libel under typical defamation standards.
    • Others: in practice it functions as a factual claim from an authority, causes real damage, and should incur liability—especially when false and hard to contest.
  • Broader concern: Google’s unilateral decisions (bans, Safe Browsing, reviews, search ranking) can materially harm businesses and users, with almost no support or recourse.

TLD Reputation, Pricing, and “Weird” Domains

  • Radix-operated TLDs listed: .store, .online, .tech, .site, .fun, .pw, .host, .press, .space, .uno, .website. Several commenters say these are heavily used by scammers because they’re cheap or even free.
  • Consequences: some security products and ISPs blanket‑flag such TLDs as “malicious,” impacting both web access and email deliverability.
  • Complaints about new gTLD practices: teaser $1–$5 first year then large renewal hikes; sudden price jumps; stories of other TLDs (.icu, .art, .hosting, .dev, etc.) becoming unaffordable.
  • Many advise sticking to .com/.org or trustworthy ccTLDs; others report years of trouble‑free use of .tech/.fun/etc. and see TLD stereotyping as overblown.

Registrars, Alternatives, and Enshittification

  • Namecheap and Gandi are criticized post–private equity acquisition (bugs, pricing, policy changes), though some still praise their support.
  • Alternatives frequently recommended: Cloudflare (at-cost pricing), Porkbun, Dynadot, some cloud providers’ registrars; some warn Cloudflare itself could later “enshittify.”
  • Several note that free or ultra‑cheap domains (.tk/Freenom, some Radix promos) strongly correlate with abuse and future trouble; “never use free domains” is a recurring theme.

Google Search Console & Defensive Practices

  • Multiple commenters now treat adding domains to Google Search Console as a defensive necessity: pre‑verification makes Safe Browsing appeals possible if something goes wrong.
  • Others are uneasy about having to register with Google at all just to avoid being silently destroyed by its blocklists, seeing this as de facto gatekeeping of the web.