Stories

Comment by zzem

Comment

Comment by zzem

Thank you for your insights. I understand the concerns you've raised, but there's also another side to DNS that's often overlooked: its role as a globally available, distributed database for storing small amounts of data linked to domain names.

Now, I'm not saying that people should start to host their files on DNS, but for simple, personal "banner" like pages that say "Hi, I'm X, love cats, catch me on @email" that should be OK, may be easier than setting up a separate hosting, and make the web more inclusive for non-technical users. Storing and transferring a few hundred bytes for this purpose under a distinct namespace/zone in a niche use case should be well within the capacity of the existing DNS software and infrastructure. We already have other standardized, dedicated classes of informational ("Layer 7 data") DNS records like HINFO and RP, so why not store a piece of text that would have a meaning for humans and present it in a nicely formatted (themes) and accessible (HTTP) way.

The way I see it is as a scale: DNS TXT records may be ok to use for small, simple, informational pages; - static hosting (GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, etc.) should be used for longer texts, pages with custom assets (e.g., images), or multi-page sites; - SSGs and dedicated platforms for blog and bigger websites (Jekyll, Wordpress, etc.); - VPSes, EC2, Lambda, Firebase etc. for bigger things; - ending probably with dedicated servers, networking, and own ASNs for big online platforms. There is always some amount of data or activity above which one should switch to the next level, but switching to it requires additional knowledge and resources; and the other way around, buying and maintaining a dedicated server just to host a simple, static website with low traffic is an overkill.

Also, one thing about the app's architecture may be worth highlighting: The app uses a pre-set DoH provider (currently Cloudflare) to resolve DNS queries on the client-side, so the impact on the DNS ecosystem is close to none as only the source DNS server and the DoH resolver store and transfer these TXT records. Such setup also protects sites against mitm attacks. If the traffic becomes too big for Cloudflare infrastructure (if that's even possible), we can always setup and switch to our own dedicated DoH endpoint. Similarly, if the DNS hosting provider thinks it's abusing their servers, they can increase pricing or limit the number and/or length of TXT records their customers can setup for a single domain.

Replies zzem · 2024-02-27
Open on HN
Loading the discussion…

Domain filters

Stories from these domains are hidden from every list. Subdomains match too: blocking substack.com also hides danluu.substack.com.

    New collection

    Delete this collection?

    About YAVCHN

    YAVCHN is a reader for Hacker News and Lobsters, with articles and discussions in separate windows or Classic pages.

    Created by Paul Parks and built with PUDL.

    YAVCHN source code on GitHub

    Privacy policy · Terms of use

    Help

    Keyboard

    j / k
    Move down and up the story list. The arrow keys scroll whatever has focus.
    Enter
    Read the marked story in the article reader.
    ]
    Read the next story in the same article-reader applet. Back returns to the previous story.
    p
    Pin or unpin the marked story, which keeps it in Pinned.
    n / N
    Move to the next or previous top-level comment in the window in front.
    c
    Collapse or expand that comment.
    f
    Hide or show the story list.
    Esc
    Close a menu or this help.
    Access key m
    Go to the menu bar. Most browsers take it with Alt on Windows and Linux, and Safari with Control and Option.
    ?
    Show this help.

    Windows

    Each story opens in a window holding its article above its discussion; drag the bar between them to share the room differently. A window can be moved by its title bar, resized from any edge, snapped to a half or a corner by dragging it there, maximised, or minimised to the bar at the foot of the page. Use Window > New reader window to open an empty reader, or Story > Open in new reader window to open another reader for the current article. Docked readers keep their articles when you select another story from the sidebar. Minimized readers can be restored and reused for their site. A window's Next story link reads on down the list in the same window.

    A link in a comment or an article to another Hacker News or Lobsters thread opens that thread in a window too. A link to a single HN comment opens the comment above its replies.

    While a story's window is in front, the Story and Discussion menus in the menu bar hold its commands: pinning, Next story, sorting, collapsing every thread, jumping to the first new comment. Each window also remembers where you were in its article and discussion, so a reload, or Back to a story that Next took you past, finds your place again. Closing a window forgets it.

    The whole arrangement lives in the address, so a bookmark or a shared link brings it back, and Back undoes the last change. Moving between Hacker News, Lobsters, their lists, Pinned and Find changes only the list, and leaves the windows open.

    The list

    The pin at the start of a row keeps the story in Pinned, and the cross at its end hides it. Pinned can be narrowed by words in the title, site or author, by source, and to the stories you haven't opened yet, and ordered by when you pinned them, by points or by comments; the filters are part of the address, so a filtered view can be bookmarked. Scroll past the end of the list to load more. Domain filters, in the View menu, hide every story from a site.

    Collections are named lists of stories. Story > Add to collection files the story in front into one or more of them, and the Collections feed shows them all or one at a time; the menu that chooses collections also creates, renames, and deletes them. A note is your own text on a story. Choose Add note in a story's toolbar to write one; it saves as you type. Rows with a note carry the note mark, and the Notes feed lists every noted story and searches the text of your notes.

    Browsing view

    View > Windowed and View > Classic select the browsing view and save your default in this browser. Window view reuses a reader for each feed. Classic view opens stories and applets as pages. Open as a page is a one-off action that does not change your saved default. Use the Windowed selector to return an article to a window. Direct page links always open as pages.

    Applets

    The Applets menu in the menu bar holds three tools, each a window of its own. Replies to me takes your Hacker News user name and lists the replies to your last thirty comments and stories, checking again every three minutes while it is open, and marking what is new since you last marked them read. Look up a user opens a profile on Hacker News or Lobsters, with their submissions and recent comments, as a commenter's name in any discussion does; the bar at the top of a profile looks up someone else in the same window, and Back returns to the one before. Who is hiring? filters the posts of HN's monthly hiring threads by the words you type.

    They read only what the sites publish to everyone, so none of them asks for a login, and your user name stays in this browser anonymously and is included in retained applet state when signed in.

    Find

    Find takes any link and lists every time it was submitted to Hacker News and Lobsters, so you can read each discussion of it.

    About

    YAVCHN never sees your Hacker News or Lobsters login. The discussion is fetched from each site's public API; to vote or reply, follow the link above the discussion, or the arrow beside a comment, to the source's own site. Without a YAVCHN account, your data stays in this browser. When signed in, pins, collections, notes, blocked domains, and retained reading state are stored with your account and synchronized across devices. Hidden stories and layout stay in this browser. The privacy policy has the details.

    Open source: github.com/paulmooreparks/yavchn. Built with PUDL.