DNS over Wikipedia
Dev tools
browser url resolver
SHOW HN2020
How HN took it
11 positive, 21 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 12 critical, out of 45 comments about the project. Thread score -0.06.
Idea: 7 for, 9 againstPrivacy: 2 for, 3 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clever concept, using consensus-maintained Wikipedia links
From 3 comments
This is hecka cool. What a clever concept! I like the idea of piggy-backing on top of a mechanism that is sort of kept in the right state by consensus.
renewiltord on HNWoah this is hecka cool!! Nice work to the authors.
upgoat on HNAwesome idea! It could be applied to a lot of different websites. Even ones where I'm too lazy to type out the whole URL :p Regardless, having a system where you can base it off…
jneplokh on HN
Objections
Not actually DNS; it is HTTP redirection or search autocorrect
From 4 comments
DNS translates a name into an IP address. This is not DNS per-se, it is just a search plugin for the url bar. If an analogy was needed with a network service perhaps this is more…
HugoDaniel on HNJust because it's doing key-value pairs does not mean it's DNS. If I can't `dig` it, it's not DNS. This is simply doing HTTP redirects and works with no other protocols.
sfoley on HNThe extension has nothing to do with DNS, a more accurate name would be "autocorrect over wikipedia". The rust server set up with dnsmasq is a legit DNS server though.
snek on HNNitpicking: Technically it's not DNS as it doesn't resolve names to addresses. Maybe CNAME over Wikipedia?
abiogenesis on HN
Wikipedia is editable by anyone, so links can be spammed or phished
From 3 comments
One concern is that you can’t always trust the Wikipedia link. For example, in this edit [1] to the Equifax page, a spammer changed the link to a spam site. They’re usually fixed…
gbear605 on HNMany Wikipedia articles can be edited by anyone. This is not secure.
29athrowaway on HNInteresting idea but: - How do you handle ambiguity? e.g what happens when sci-hub.idk and scihub.idk differ? - Aren’t you concerned by the fact that Wikipedia is open to editing…
erikig on HN
Requests
Use Wikidata as the source of official URLs
From 3 comments
> Wikipedia keeps track of official URLs for popular websites This should be Wikidata. Wikipedia does that, but this is more and more moved into Wikidata. This is a good thing,…
hk__2 on HNMaybe use WikiData? The slower rate of updates might work in your favour to avoid vandalism.
captn3m0 on HNWouldn't this be an excellent use case for Wikidata? For example looking up "sci hub" on Wikidata leads to https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21980377 which has an "official website"…
blattimwind on HN
Questions
How are ambiguous names like sci-hub.idk and scihub.idk handled?
From 1 comment
Interesting idea but: - How do you handle ambiguity? e.g what happens when sci-hub.idk and scihub.idk differ? - Aren’t you concerned by the fact that Wikipedia is open to editing…
erikig on HN
Does this comply with Wikipedia's terms of service?
From 1 comment
Does this comply with the terms of service? I know this won’t be a popular reply and that’s fine, but I just want to know whether your admittedly intriguing concept isn’t taking…
snorrah on HN
Alternatives named
DuckDuckGo "I'm Feeling Ducky" search prefix
From 1 comment
Nice hack, but you can do it much easier with DuckDuckGo's "I'm Feeling Ducky", which is used by prefixing the search with a backslash: https://lmddgtfy.net/?q=%5Chacker%20news…
sm4rk0 on HN
Wikidata official website field
From 1 comment
Wouldn't this be an excellent use case for Wikidata? For example looking up "sci hub" on Wikidata leads to https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21980377 which has an "official website"…
blattimwind on HN