Moving Away From .xyz

When I got my first domain name, cyhsu.xyz, about ten years ago, .xyz was the new, cool kid on the block, known for hosting Alphabet’s corporate domain, abc.xyz. I also liked that it contains two of the three letters in my pinyin initials.

Over time, though, .xyz became overrun by spammers and crypto/NFT scammers, drawn to the perceived “coolness” and low cost. Its reputation tanked so badly that “the mere inclusion of .xyz inside a text message will result in a silent delivery failure for many providers.” Apache’s SpamAssassin even lists it among the domains blocked by default. That’s why I migrated my emails to cyhsu.net a couple of years ago. Still, I kept the blog on .xyz for my attachment to it and the lack of a better alternative.

Recently, with my .xyz renewal coming up again, I started looking for a new domain and found hsu.cy, which is adorably short and a better approximation of my name. At first, I balked at reseller prices ($40—$100 per year), but then I discovered it was available directly from nic.cy, the official registrar, for just 42 euros every five years — even cheaper than an .xyz. It does require a manual application process, but a passport ID proved sufficient for non-Cypriots to pass.

So, from now on, this site will be at hsu.cy instead of type.cyhsu.xyz. Those following via RSS are invited to update the feed URL to https://hsu.cy/feed.xml. Old links will still work, though — I’ve set up a Cloudflare Worker to redirect requests to the old domain, which I’ll keep for at least a year or two to ensure a smooth transition. I’ll continue using cyhsu.net for email, but messages sent to hsu.cy will also be received.

Of course, these are only the first steps. I still have self-hosted services to move over, and may update this post with notes and observations as I go. But for now, let me bid adieu to the journey with .xyz.