59
Queer.af mastodon instance has been shut down by the Taliban (mastodon.world)
submitted 7 months ago by i_have_no_enemies@lemmy.world to c/atheism@lemmy.world
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
all 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

I'm simultaneously amused and appalled.

The amusement is from the Taliban being so sensitive they can't even allow a domain with 'queer' in the name to be associated with .af as if anyone anywhere outside maybe Afghanistan itself associates .af with Afghanistan.

The reason I'm appalled should be obvious.

[-] LocoOhNo@lemmus.org 9 points 7 months ago

Mastodon got shut down by the terror-dactyls...

I'll see myself out.

[-] i_have_no_enemies@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

as others have stated mastodon has no control over it

unfortunately countries own the domain names

[-] AmidFuror@kbin.social 4 points 7 months ago

The commenter made a prehistoric beast joke. I felt it was a bit antiquated myself.

[-] Kabaka@kbin.social 8 points 7 months ago

I have two .af domain names that got suspended as well. I don't even think they had a single DNS record set right now, but I had short-term plans for them. Oh well.

[-] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 7 months ago

Firstly, the domain was seized, the instance remains though is effectively orphaned due to how instances work. You should change your title to “queer.af domain seized from mastodon instance by Taliban” to make things clearer.

Secondly, you seem to be under the impression there’s some sort of way around this? A TLD controlled by a foreign government (whether you like it or not) retook a domain. It’s similar to the US having control of .us or Canada having control of .ca.

So to make things fun, I’ll point out that yes, technically it is possible to “work around” the issue and keep the domain name. Notice I said, and stressed, the word “technically”. Because you likely have a better chance of Trump admitting to a crime and voluntarily going to jail than it happening.

[-] i_have_no_enemies@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

How tf did they seize it? isn’t mastodon instance federated? don’t the admins own it?

[-] yuriy@lemmy.world 26 points 7 months ago

They seized the domain, .af is the Afghanistan ccTLD.

[-] CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Mastodon comments say its because they were using the Afghanistan TLD of .AF

[-] i_have_no_enemies@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

yea but why did mastodon comply with their request to seize?

what if they just deny them their request?

[-] tiramichu@lemm.ee 17 points 7 months ago

It's got nothing to do with Mastodon. Mastodon did not "comply" because Mastodon has no say one way or the other.

Where TLDs are associated with particular countries then the national registrar for that country controls who is allocated domains under it.

Example: '.fr' is associated with France and is controlled by a French organisation.

'.af' is similarly controlled by an Afghanistan organisation and they can choose to grant or revoke ownership of domains under that TLD however they like.

The Mastodon instance will need to move to a new domain.

[-] i_have_no_enemies@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

since domain is centralized and subject to a state power.

is it possible to change that or any workaround?

[-] admiralteal@kbin.social 19 points 7 months ago

The national top-level domains are MEANT to be controlled by their relevant nation-states. They are not intended to be part of vanity URLs.

So there's nothing to "fix" here. This is the system working as intended, basically.

[-] rdyoung@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

This right here. I believe Vanuatu recalled all theirs not long ago. The average person can still register plenty of country tlds but if you do, be aware and ready for the day it gets recalled.

[-] tiramichu@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago

Some amount of centralisation in domain management is necessary, in order to agree who owns what.

Devolving control of TLDs to respective nations was actually a GOOD idea because it means each country can operate those TLDs in a way that fits their needs, which is already much better than all global TLDs being operated by a single organisation.

The main mistake is that queer .af chose to register a domain controlled by a government who was very likely to have problems with what they were using it for.

Nowadays there are a large number of 'new' TLDs which are not nationally controlled and may be a better choice.

[-] rdyoung@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Countries only control the tlds that represent them, af for Afghanistan, co.uk (obvious) .us (obvious), etc. The rest like the standard com, net, info and the others recently added like taxi, xyz, vip, etc are controlled by icann.org. Plenty of country tlds are freely available for anyone to use but buyer beware, there is precedent for a country to pull those domains back and not let others use them anymore.

[-] i_have_no_enemies@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

another issue is migrating accounts losses post history.

Is there really no way to keep post history with same instance new domain name?

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 4 points 7 months ago

This is the internet equivalent of choosing to open a gay bar in Kabul instead of San Francisco.

There were plenty of safe spaces, they chose terribly.

[-] rdyoung@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The only ones subject to state power are the tlds that represent countries or states, counties, etc. The other tlds are controlled by another central body that isn't connected to any country and it would take a judge ordering a seizure for a domain to be taken down.

Basically if they had gone with any of the other shit ton of tlds that aren't for a specific country they would still be up and running. I can't say that I wouldn't have grabbed that tld given the chance but knowing it was Afghanistan I wouldn't have used that as my main domain.

[-] rdyoung@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

That's not how that works. Domains are registered and basically rented year by year from registrars and they seized it from them.

Mastodon has nothing to do with it. Mastodon is like lemmy, anyone can run their own instance. For example I have a ton of domains, most notably to go along with my username I've "owned" rdyoung.info for like 20 years now. I could run my own instance and point that domain at it or the other ones I own.

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 1 points 7 months ago

the morons who registered teh domain, signed it over to the government 'for safe keeping' and then the government turned into the literal taliban.

dont sign your domains over to some foreign power or youre gunna have a bad time

[-] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 6 points 7 months ago

Probably something to do with .af being the domain for Afghanistan. Wouldn't be the first country to seize something with their domain that they didn't like.

[-] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Just move it to .sa, it should be fine.

this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024
59 points (100.0% liked)

Atheism

3972 readers
2 users here now

Community Guide

Archive Today will help you look at paywalled content the way search engines see it.

Statement of Purpose

Acceptable

Unacceptable

Depending on severity, you might be warned before adverse action is taken.

Inadvisable

Application of warnings or bans will be subject to moderator discretion. Feel free to appeal. If changes to the guidelines are necessary, they will be adjusted.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a group that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of any other group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you you will be banned on sight.

Provable means able to provide proof to the moderation, and, if necessary, to the community.

 ~ /c/nostupidquestions

If you want your space listed in this sidebar and it is especially relevant to the atheist or skeptic communities, PM DancingPickle and we'll have a look!

Connect with Atheists

Help and Support Links

Streaming Media

This is mostly YouTube at the moment. Podcasts and similar media - especially on federated platforms - may also feature here.

Orgs, Blogs, Zines

Mainstream

Bibliography

Start here...

...proceed here.

Proselytize Religion

From Reddit

As a community with an interest in providing the best resources to its members, the following wiki links are provided as historical reference until we can establish our own.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world