The entire .tk TLD

[DandelionSprout]

URL(s) where the issue occurs

Large portions of the internet (See the suggested entry below for more info).

Describe the issue

By now, the .tk TLD has been one of the very biggest TLDs in the world for a decade. However, after I've looked on and off for some months now into which sites it is that actually use that TLD, I've concluded that there's less than 50 legitimate⁽¹⁾ .tk sites in existence, and that the other tens of millions of them are pretty much solely malware/ad/tracking pushers. They also tend to clog up Google search results, with a bunch of "results" that just consist of garbled word salads.

I know that blocking entire TLDs has been considered by adblocking community members who are older than me (in their 30s-50s) to be a worrying practice, but I now believe there are for the first time enough evidence against a TLD to seriously consider doing such a thing in a mainstream list.

My suggested entry is ||.tk^$doc,domain=~coolcmd.tk|~budterence.tk|~google.tk|~c0d3c.tk|~anonytext.tk|~tokelau-info.tk|~fakaofo.tk|~nukunonu.tk|~loljp-wiki.tk|~ninetail.tk|~goshujin.tk|~graph.tk|~dot.tk. Sure, it may or may not need a few additional whitelistings before the entry can go live, but this is the very best effort I could do.

If we are to go extra ballistic and remove their Google search results as well, to make them less cluttered, I suggest google.*##.rc:has(a[href*=".tk/"]:not([href*="coolcmd.tk"]):not([href*="budterence.tk"]):not([href*="google.tk"]):not([href*="c0d3c.tk"]):not([href*="anonytext.tk"]):not([href*="tokelau-info.tk"]):not([href*="fakaofo.tk"]):not([href*="nukunonu.tk"])):not([href*="loljp-wiki.tk"]):not([href*="ninetail.tk"]):not([href*="goshujin.tk"]):not([href*="graph.tk"]):not([href*="dot.tk"])

⁽¹⁾ = Includes non-virus NSFW sites (e.g. ninetail.tk), but excludes link shorteners (e.g. c8owk.tk) and non-main domain versions (e.g. transportinfo.tk).

Screenshot(s)

Not applicable.

Versions

• Browser/version: Chrome 76.0.3809.132 64-bit for Windows
• uBlock Origin version: Nano Adblocker 1.0.0.124 + Nano Defender 15.0.0.166

Settings

Not applicable that I'm aware of.

Notes

https://domaintyper.com/top-websites/most-popular-websites-with-tk-domain/ lists 632 domains with the .tk domain within the top 1mill of whichever ranking system. Only 5 of which I could confirm as being legitimate.

[okiehsch]

I know that blocking entire TLDs has been considered by adblocking community members who are older than me (in their 30s-50s) to be a worrying practice

I am not sure if this is a dig at me 😉 but I can tell you that I am indeed against blocking an entire TLD by default because it is clearly out of scope, in my opinion. Users are free to add such filters to their own lists or enable filter lists that include such filters.

[spirillen]

This sounds like a very bad idea, yes I'm in the agegroup 40+ :smile: there are a lot more legit domains than you ~50 domains that you refer to in your post.

1. Who should curate such a whitelist?
2. This would, to me, looks more like censuring, than protecting against malicious domains
3. This will make all with a .tk tld guilty until proven innosent, which is reworsed democratic approach (unless your a Trump voter).
4. How would you categories a tk domain like https://mypdns.tk/ ?
5. The link you refer to in your post is all about, and only .tk

[DandelionSprout]

No, this is not a dig at you (okiesch), it's just that multiple people who've been in this community before I joined it in 2017, seemed to be confused by the notion of doing so. 😅 Plus that I believe that almost every major list maker except me, Kowith, and maybe 1 or 2 others, have previously been in security or data-geek forums, thus they most likely have lived a long enough life to have been in a prime age while participating on those forums.

(To spirillen) I accept points 1 and 3. As for №2, I've attempted to whitelist as many genuine sites as feasibly possible to avoid random censorship, trying to focus my blockade aim on insubstantial ad/malware sites. As for №4, as the page seems (upon a 2nd attempt) to redirect to an .org domain, I consider it a non-main domain version, for lack of another shorthand way to describe it.

Nevertheless, I'll concede defeat for now.

[spirillen]

@DandelionSprout

As for №4, as the page seems (upon a 2nd attempt) to redirect to an .org domain, I consider it a non-main domain version, for lack of another shorthand way to describe it.

Your almost right :smile: It's a domain I have secured for not being turned into a malicious domain used by evil people, as typo-squatting or and other confusing stuff.

And yes that is an acknowledge of the issue with the free domain .tk

PS. Thx for confirming the rewrite works as intended :smiling_imp:

[DandelionSprout]

That's possibly the best ever way you could've proved your point, to the point that I congratulate you for it.