After many years and experiments, another conclusion I'd like to share:

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

- Make sure you "own" (well, technically: rent) at least one domain name with a recognisable but not "funny" name (my main domain is wildeboer.net)
- Only "buy" one of .com, .net, .org, .eu (when you live there) or your countries top level domain (TLD). Ignore all the fancy hype TLDs.

Your domain can become your digital identity authority that YOU control. This will become more important mid-to longterm, IMHO. 1/5

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

As soon as you have "your" domain, you can do a lot of things that help you keep control of your digital identity. For example, use it to redirect e-mails via yournickname@yourdomain to services like proton or gmail. You can now switch email providers in case it's needed as YOU control the domain. 2/5

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

You can also use subdomains for other services. I use https://social.wildeboer.net for this Mastodon instance, hosted by https://masto.host. I use https://share.wildeboer.net for #Nextcloud backed storage hosted by Hetzner to share pictures, files etc. I use https://jan.wildeboer.net for my blog running on my own little VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosted by netcup. "Owning" a domain name gives me more control. 3/5

Peter DL6PL

@jwildeboer The best thing about having your own domain is a catch-all mailbox imho. Every online store, no matter how small, has its own e-mail address. If spam actually comes in, I know exactly who has been breached.

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

Yes, it comes with a bit of a learning curve. How to "buy" a domain and at which provider? How to configure DNS (Domain Name System [1]) with the correct CNAME entries etc. This looks complicated and dangerous. But once you've understood the basics, you will feel empowered and more in control of your digital identity. Totally worth it, IMHO! It's a skill that should be taught to everyone, IMHO 4/5

[1] https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System

{Insert Pasta Pun}

@jwildeboer I remember an essay a while back that things like wordpress are "easy" while things like static hosting are "hard", even if technologists bemoan the massive overhead of a whole running WP stack when static files would do (signing up for a wordpress site is simpler than learning how to set up hugo + S3 + cloudfront for the first time)

some of that has got to be the ease of onboarding

Mike Morris

@jwildeboer Also, in my experience, it's best to have your DNS served by someone *other* than the org you "buy" your domain from (ideally yourself, but that's an extra layer of complexity).

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

@mikro2nd Sure. DNS is the ultimate source of truth and should be handled with as much care and trust as possible. That's why I switched my domain names to a trusted party, a small but reliable company that isn't as cheap as the big ones, but where I can talk to the owner if needed and he replies immediately.

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

So how do we get more people to "own" domains and use them? I guess a lot of people have a lot of very different ideas. My initial idea is simple. Let's have regular DNS meetups, in person, where we simply meet at a nice place, help you to book a domain, configure it correctly etc. But I am sure others have even better ideas. Let's discuss. 5/5

Jarjan

@jwildeboer
I'd like to learn a bit more DNS! I have a couple of domains, even a few that I don't use at all (but like the names, so they're hard to give up ). Anyway, I've also ran in to some DNS questions and small issues. Maybe I can learn to solve them!

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

Addendum: "Owning" your domain name and using it as the disambiguation point for many services also helps in decentralising the internet. Even if you just point your e-mail address at your domain to gmail or Apple and nothing else. It changes the balance of power slightly more towards you. Totally worth the learning curve, IMHO.

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

@jarjan I'd be happy to offer my help in the hope that you will share what you've learned from me to more people you know. Grassroots DNS training, a positive version of a pyramid scheme

Francesco P Lovergine

@jwildeboer
Totally agree about that, done maybe almost 30 years ago. And nothing is better than reading 'DNS and bind' by O'Reilly to understand how it works.

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

@gisgeek That bible is a bit much for those that are just starting, though IMHO the main basics to understand are how to use CNAME and A(AAAA) records and step 2 is MX records. With that knowledge you already solve 90+% of the typical use cases for "normal" people.

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

Addendum 2: When discussing in the replies, please do try to write in a way that is accessible to non-DNS experts. I'd love to get more people interested in learning this. Deep technical discussions on details and special cases might not be really helpful

Aleksandra Fedorova :fedora:

@jwildeboer

Having DNS as an entry point is hard, because the target audience doesn't know yet that these letters - DNS - is what they need to search for.

So you need a better slogan. "Own yourself on the Internet" or just "Own the Internet", or something like that

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

@bookwar DNS is often treated and described as some secret black magic, with incantations that are only known to the secret, initiated few I think it would be good to make that knowledge more accessible and common knowledge. It's, IMHO, fundamental knowledge that needs to be freed from its secrecy and "don't touch this unless you are an expert" reputation ...

Scott H.

@jwildeboer I was on Bluesky last year. I ended up leaving; however, one thing I liked is they will pin identity onto a domain you control. I don't see why Mastodon couldn't do that as well. Oh my, that would be a painful migration. Anyhoo: https://bsky.social/about/blog/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

@acodrst We have self-verified links on Mastodon since many years Just check my profile page. There's also the .well-known URI approach [1]. But sure, BlueSky had to invent their own, new system instead of supporting existing open standards. #WhereIsMySurprisedFace

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well-known_URI

Scott H.

@jwildeboer You are running your own instance, no? Are you parsing what I said? Am I just not understanding you?