Vanity domains are a
standby in
hax0r/
script kiddy culture. To put it simply, they are abuse of the
DNS system to spell out sentences or messages. Normal hostnames go like www.everything2.com or mail.maine.rr.com . Vanity domains expand (so to speak) on this and use reverse DNS to create real, fully qualified domain names like likes.to.get.it.on.with.linuxchicks.org . Generally, you see these being run by
teenage hax0r d00dz who through some
cosmic imbalance have obtained their own
class C of
IP addresses, and reverse control over them. Yes, these are always people who
IRC as if it were a
bodily function and would not be caught DEAD logging on from a host like ip45.sacramento3.ca.pub-ip.psi.net . No, they must run their own
Linux or
FreeBSD boxen and use specially designed,
DNS-abusive hostnames because "their cool!@*$%!"
Anyway, they set up the named with matching forward and reverse service so IRC servers, insanely enough, think these people are really connecting from hostnames like " fear.my.ninj.as "
I have to say, seeing as how I did run with a crowd like that at one point, I've seen a lot of these, and been on the "inside" of them at times. Some of them are really long and totally idiotic like...
- sellin.crack.out.of.my.bedroom.window.is.sortacool.com
- msg.me.for.some.passionate.cx
- big.whores.strut.their.stuff.on.wtftv.com
- will.make.you.say.w00t.com
All of those are in my old
IRC logs, and at one point did exist. But that's another thing about
vanity domains, they tend not to stick around too long, because the
sysadmins of the
boxen these kids are running these things from tend to find out about it and put a stop to it, but there are some people (I mean, 20-something males with nothing to do) who actually pay the money and run a half-assed
web hosting project to support it find these things
amusing and let
kiddies have access to them. There are a few vanity domains that actually are short and somewhat clever, like windows.crashed.org or is.lamefree.org . On the whole, though, this a
wanton waste of our (rapidly-diminishing, mind you) supply of
IPv4 addresses.
I always did think it would be funny, though, if one of these vanity-meisters had to call Network Solutions to get some domain changed, and had to have the follow conversation with a the helpdesk rep:
NSI Rep: Hello, Network Solutions incorporated, how may I help you?
Hax0r: Uh...hi. I need to get my domain's nameserver changed...
NSI Rep: Ok sir, what's the domain name?
Hax0r: Er...um...
NSI Rep: Sir?
Hax0r (in a quiet, embarrassed voice): monkeysex.org...