We’re still here!

Hello users!

It has been nearly 2 years since the last post. We’re still up and running strong, and don’t plan on going anywhere (we haven’t abandoned the project). The site is looking a bit dated now, but we feel that sometimes that classic feel is a good thing 🙂

We’ve been operating since May 2015, that’s over 8 years of continuous operation! Wow, we’re sure feeling pretty old now…

While there hasn’t been many new features on XMPP.is, it sort of just runs itself for the most part (of course we patch for security updates regularly).

Over those 8 years, we’ve also been working on side projects that also protect internet user privacy. We operate an organization called unredacted.org if you weren’t aware. We have several projects under our belt that we require monetary support for. If you want to show us some love, we’d greatly appreciate and thank you for any donation you’re able to make. Interested? You can donate to us here: unredacted.org/donate

Thank you for your continued support over the years!

Tor HSv3 registrations are now open

Hello users,

As you may know, Tor’s HSv2 services are being deprecated in favor of HSv3 for many reasons (all of which are good). Previously, you could only use our HSv3 to connect to the server. After an unreasonably long wait, you can now register and use Tor Hidden Service v3 accounts on our XMPP server!

All you need to do is use your client’s normal in-band registration method, and register an account on 6voaf7iamjpufgwoulypzwwecsm2nu7j5jpgadav2rfqixmpl4d65kid.onion (please note, there is no web registration which differs from our regular domains).

A self-signed certificate has been generated for an extra layer of encryption. It’s advised that you confirm the fingerprint matches what your client sees here.

For now, we will leave our HSv2 service up until a later date as many users may want to use the legacy service. Tor has not fully deprecated HSv2, but it’s coming.

The switch to hCaptcha

Hello users!

Recently I’ve discovered that the Prosody module mod_register_web supports hCaptcha now. Previously we’ve used Google’s recaptcha which is obviously not ideal for privacy reasons. hCaptcha is more privacy conscious and rewards site owners for using them. As such, I’ve added hCaptcha to all registration forms!

If you’re interested in implementing hCaptcha as an alternative to Google’s recaptcha, consider using our referral link.

Anti-spam rules are finally here

Hello users!

This should have came a LONG time ago, but anti-spam rules have now been applied to the server. There has been a wave of spam recently and it’s annoyed myself and a few other users. I do apologize for how annoying it has been. I hope that the new measures protect against the spam.

If you notice the server rejecting legitimate messages, please contact me. Feel free to do the same if you notice that spam got through the filter.

Registrations are back! Yay!

Hello users,

I’m happy to say that registrations are back, hopefully for good this time. The XMPP daemon we use, Prosody, now supports SNI on outbound HTTP requests. This was added in the latest release (0.11.7). SNI was necessary for Google’s Captcha service to work. It’s unfortunate that we have to use this service, although all other options have been exhausted to keep spam registrations down.

If you’d like an account now, go ahead and make one! Register now.