Dig Deeper Community Forum

LoadingXML wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 3:57 am Before I answer these, I have 2 questions and a request:

1-are you fed? Like you seriously ask so many taste and opinion questions i started to feel suspicious about you.

2-was you part of the original digdeeper community back when the MUC existed?

and my request is:

I opened this post on my phone and, because I dont have umatrix disable images like in my pc, I was forced to see your terrible profile picture, can you change it to something less cringe.

LoadingXML wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 3:57 am Before I answer these, I have 2 questions and a request:

1-are you fed? Like you seriously ask so many taste and opinion questions i started to feel suspicious about you.

2-was you part of the original digdeeper community back when the MUC existed?

and my request is:

I opened this post on my phone and, because I dont have umatrix disable images like in my pc, I was forced to see your terrible profile picture, can you change it to something less cringe.

strawberry9 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 5:54 am

LoadingXML wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 3:57 am Before I answer these, I have 2 questions and a request:

1-are you fed? Like you seriously ask so many taste and opinion questions i started to feel suspicious about you.

2-was you part of the original digdeeper community back when the MUC existed?

and my request is:

I opened this post on my phone and, because I dont have umatrix disable images like in my pc, I was forced to see your terrible profile picture, can you change it to something less cringe.

molly is giving fed vibes with the female avatar and how they interact here but you can never be 100% fed-free.

I think it might be useful to have a guide for staying private on this forum (a list of general things not to share and examples of how details from multiple posts could narrow individuals down). I would be happy to work on it with people.

molly wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 6:49 am

strawberry9 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 5:54 am

LoadingXML wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 3:57 am Before I answer these, I have 2 questions and a request:

1-are you fed? Like you seriously ask so many taste and opinion questions i started to feel suspicious about you.

2-was you part of the original digdeeper community back when the MUC existed?

and my request is:

I opened this post on my phone and, because I dont have umatrix disable images like in my pc, I was forced to see your terrible profile picture, can you change it to something less cringe.

molly is giving fed vibes with the female avatar and how they interact here but you can never be 100% fed-free.

I think it might be useful to have a guide for staying private on this forum (a list of general things not to share and examples of how details from multiple posts could narrow individuals down). I would be happy to work on it with people.

Yes lets start by strange user names, anyone naming themselves after fruit may be homosexual, lets ban them.

strawberry9 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 7:03 am

molly wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 6:49 am

strawberry9 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 5:54 am

molly is giving fed vibes with the female avatar and how they interact here but you can never be 100% fed-free.

I think it might be useful to have a guide for staying private on this forum (a list of general things not to share and examples of how details from multiple posts could narrow individuals down). I would be happy to work on it with people.

Yes lets start by strange user names, anyone naming themselves after fruit may be homosexual, lets ban them.

I didn't want to get you banned. My point was not aganst you it was that it shouldn't matter if everyone is a fed on here if we are smart with how we share information.

molly wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 7:09 am

strawberry9 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 7:03 am

molly wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 6:49 am
Yes lets start by strange user names, anyone naming themselves after fruit may be homosexual, lets ban them.

I didn't want to get you banned. My point was not aganst you it was that it shouldn't matter if everyone is a fed on here if we are smart with how we share information.

So what is the point of having the forum if you don't "share information"? Why are you here?

strawberry9 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 7:31 am For sharing stuff with friends, I use a dedicated laptop as a server and back up to a cold HDD once in a while. A lot is accessible through static html directory listings because it just works, it's easy for people to use and I'm lazy. Probably less reliable than a good VPS due to bitrot and such.

If I wanted the most privacy for a legal public onion service I would use a VPS without KYC. Long running onion services have a different threat model than browsing with Tor so I would look into Tor vanguards to make the VPS harder to find. Also, private keys should stay off of the VPS when possible.
Establishing a PGP key early on might be good if you want to sign all your URLs to prevent impersonation.
In terms of the actual site you should keep it static and not allow user uploads if you don't have to. Also don't use SVGs for the privacy of users.

If you trust the Tor network to keep the server hidden and you are worried about LEA; a money trail is historically the easiest way to track you down, even with crypto currencies.

I would not put sensitive unencrypted data on a VPS. There are a million ways to encrypt data for backup but look into how Tarsnap backup works (it's PBKDF is not the best but it is still good).

--> Anna's Archive has a good guide on their GitLab instace for hosting sensitive services <--

For hosting a website I used to find TLS certs difficult but acme with let's encrypt makes it easy. Even httpd from OpenBSD supports acme. You could self-sign but you don't need https for .onion domains in most cases.

molly wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 8:12 am

strawberry9 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 7:31 am For sharing stuff with friends, I use a dedicated laptop as a server and back up to a cold HDD once in a while. A lot is accessible through static html directory listings because it just works, it's easy for people to use and I'm lazy. Probably less reliable than a good VPS due to bitrot and such.

If I wanted the most privacy for a legal public onion service I would use a VPS without KYC. Long running onion services have a different threat model than browsing with Tor so I would look into Tor vanguards to make the VPS harder to find. Also, private keys should stay off of the VPS when possible.
Establishing a PGP key early on might be good if you want to sign all your URLs to prevent impersonation.
In terms of the actual site you should keep it static and not allow user uploads if you don't have to. Also don't use SVGs for the privacy of users.

If you trust the Tor network to keep the server hidden and you are worried about LEA; a money trail is historically the easiest way to track you down, even with crypto currencies.

I would not put sensitive unencrypted data on a VPS. There are a million ways to encrypt data for backup but look into how Tarsnap backup works (it's PBKDF is not the best but it is still good).

--> Anna's Archive has a good guide on their GitLab instace for hosting sensitive services <--

For hosting a website I used to find TLS certs difficult but acme with let's encrypt makes it easy. Even httpd from OpenBSD supports acme. You could self-sign but you don't need https for .onion domains in most cases.

Thanks for the detailed reply, I have lots of ideas for websites but do not have the knowledge yet.
I think the more individual people who make web sites the better, less reliance on the big corporate pigs.
Rather than just diving in and reading everything about different ways to do it I wanted to ask here so I can narrow it down and then go and research those specific methods. Asking other people who have done it before for me is the best starting point.

digdeeper wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 9:07 am I recommend a free host like https://web1.0hosting.net/ first. It basically has everything you'd want for a static site, other than TOR / I2P access (but there is yggdrasil access, somehow). Get the content out first and see if this is something you'd actually like to do. There is a lot that goes into managing a VPS that is quite annoying. So better to get the site out first and sunkcost yourself, so that you are motivated to keep it up when you later switch to a VPS.

Home hosting is the best in terms of control. No screwing around with ssh, etc. But you are limited to darknet access unless you use a VPS as a redirect to your home server. And you have to ensure the computer is on, location secure, etc. No offloading anything. It really is ideal though because in the end you are in charge. Situations like the incognet horror show are completely prevented. And you don't have to pay other than what you already pay for internet and electricity.

In the end I cuck to VPSes because I really really don't want to be fedded, and darknet location hiding is not perfect. Also, I want some reach and thus need a domain regardless, so I'd need a VPS then at which point I might as well put what I want there. But the setup where the VPS serves exclusively as a redirect is probably the best overall.

strawberry9 wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2026 11:24 am

digdeeper wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 9:07 am I recommend a free host like https://web1.0hosting.net/ first. It basically has everything you'd want for a static site, other than TOR / I2P access (but there is yggdrasil access, somehow). Get the content out first and see if this is something you'd actually like to do. There is a lot that goes into managing a VPS that is quite annoying. So better to get the site out first and sunkcost yourself, so that you are motivated to keep it up when you later switch to a VPS.

Home hosting is the best in terms of control. No screwing around with ssh, etc. But you are limited to darknet access unless you use a VPS as a redirect to your home server. And you have to ensure the computer is on, location secure, etc. No offloading anything. It really is ideal though because in the end you are in charge. Situations like the incognet horror show are completely prevented. And you don't have to pay other than what you already pay for internet and electricity.

In the end I cuck to VPSes because I really really don't want to be fedded, and darknet location hiding is not perfect. Also, I want some reach and thus need a domain regardless, so I'd need a VPS then at which point I might as well put what I want there. But the setup where the VPS serves exclusively as a redirect is probably the best overall.

I have seen that free host mentioned on digdeeper several times, but nowhere else. Are you affiliated with them or is it just a hidden gem? The host is russian from what i can tell (not that them being so is good or bad if that is the case).

digdeeper wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 9:07 am Home hosting is the best in terms of control. No screwing around with ssh, etc. But you are limited to darknet access unless you use a VPS as a redirect to your home server. And you have to ensure the computer is on, location secure, etc. No offloading anything. It really is ideal though because in the end you are in charge. Situations like the incognet horror show are completely prevented. And you don't have to pay other than what you already pay for internet and electricity.

In the end I cuck to VPSes because I really really don't want to be fedded, and darknet location hiding is not perfect. Also, I want some reach and thus need a domain regardless, so I'd need a VPS then at which point I might as well put what I want there. But the setup where the VPS serves exclusively as a redirect is probably the best overall.

digdeeper wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 9:07 am I recommend a free host like https://web1.0hosting.net/ first. It basically has everything you'd want for a static site, other than TOR / I2P access (but there is yggdrasil access, somehow). Get the content out first and see if this is something you'd actually like to do. There is a lot that goes into managing a VPS that is quite annoying. So better to get the site out first and sunkcost yourself, so that you are motivated to keep it up when you later switch to a VPS.

Home hosting is the best in terms of control. No screwing around with ssh, etc. But you are limited to darknet access unless you use a VPS as a redirect to your home server. And you have to ensure the computer is on, location secure, etc. No offloading anything. It really is ideal though because in the end you are in charge. Situations like the incognet horror show are completely prevented. And you don't have to pay other than what you already pay for internet and electricity.

In the end I cuck to VPSes because I really really don't want to be fedded, and darknet location hiding is not perfect. Also, I want some reach and thus need a domain regardless, so I'd need a VPS then at which point I might as well put what I want there. But the setup where the VPS serves exclusively as a redirect is probably the best overall.

anonymous_ wrote: Thu Jul 09, 2026 5:57 am

digdeeper wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 9:07 am Home hosting is the best in terms of control. No screwing around with ssh, etc. But you are limited to darknet access unless you use a VPS as a redirect to your home server. And you have to ensure the computer is on, location secure, etc. No offloading anything. It really is ideal though because in the end you are in charge. Situations like the incognet horror show are completely prevented. And you don't have to pay other than what you already pay for internet and electricity.

In the end I cuck to VPSes because I really really don't want to be fedded, and darknet location hiding is not perfect. Also, I want some reach and thus need a domain regardless, so I'd need a VPS then at which point I might as well put what I want there. But the setup where the VPS serves exclusively as a redirect is probably the best overall.

This is the most independent solution. There's a few ways to achieve it.
One way (the easiest way) would be to use a VPN service that offers a static IP (plenty of them do) and/or port forwarding, however most of them do not have XMR payments (though some may have BTC payments, so could swap the XMR over I guess).
There's also some proxy services (some of which are free) that will tunnel, say, just HTTP/S so that you can hide your IP from outsiders and your ISP, just not the proxy service.
You can also run your own VPN if you purchase a VPS from literally any provider, but preferably one that allows payments in XMR.
Wireguard would be the primary option here, but there's others like OpenVPN and IKEv2. I've heard of a solution that uses exclusively IKEv2 with encryption and IPv6 that's supposed to be good, but I'm not sure if it's just 'pseudonymous' or not.
If you have a VPS you could also run your own proxy services on it, such as xmpp-proxy and nginx. If your home server is running Tor or I2P you can then direct those proxies to connect via one of those darknets (for example, I2P allows you to create client tunnels) that would then connect back to a theoretical home host.

Another thing to consider would be a potential timing attack, your server should have at least some type of UPS or ideally a fully off grid (solar?) power supply. A laptop sort of has this built in, assuming it has decent battery life, but also consider your router/modem as well.

With this setup all traffic is hidden from the ISP and your VPS provider does not know your IP (unlike if you were using the VPS to run a VPN). However, the ISP will know you are using a darknet, just not for what.

A note regarding SSH; while you could setup a keyboard/mouse/monitor for the server computer, I still think SSH is highly useful because it will allow you to remote control from your primary computer (or even remotely if you are away from home) and provides file transfer (sftp://).

It would also suggest walling this computer off from the rest of your network (unless you have separate ones, but even still you don't want errant doxing clearnet connections getting made). For example, use a "gateway" device (eg a small Orange Pi or a switch running Armtix, OpenWrt, *Sense or whatever) that perhaps runs I2P/Tor and blocks all other connections from coming/going to the server computer using nftables or pf or something. It is important to do this on a separate device so that if the server computer becomes compromised or if you accidentally mess something up, the firewall stands strong regardless. Expect that applications (prosody, for example) will try to contact DNS and attempt to contact clearnet domains despite having no business doing so.

Regardless, look at the darknet as the primary 'net', and see clearnet as nothing but an outproxy. Clearnet is very based around domains and ownership of them, as well as transparent connections and numerical IPs associated with ISP accounts that tie back to real names and bank accounts. Services like Njalla can help alot for when you do finally need to get a domain to attach to your VPS proxy server.
There's others too (look on kycnot.me), but Njalla is the most well known/tested. If you want to keep cost low and are ok with an address like mycoolserver.moooimacow.us you can get free subdomains somewhere like freedns.afraid.org.

If you have any further questions I'm happy to help.