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I asked one question about my DNS records and was forced to substitute my real domain name and IP with fake data like 111.111.111.111 & bar.com.

One user didn't welcome that and made me -1, so I deleted the question.

My server is still very vulnerable, I am on setup phase.

What do I have to do to ask my question ?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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First, one point: if you are basing your server's security on people from the internet not "finding" your server, you've already lost. If your server is vulnerable, then you should implement firewall rules to limit traffic to the server until you get the issues sorted out.

There are some topics, particularly those that are DNS-related that are extremely difficult to answer without knowing the domain name in question. In cases such as these, your options are:

  1. Post the domain name after doing whatever you need to do to secure your server assets (which you should have already done anyway).
  2. Purchase a placeholder domain and configure it identically to your real domain, then replicate the problem on that domain and post the placeholder domain in your question.
  3. Hire a professional to help you out.
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  • OK I see, so I will choose 1, I can't afford 3rd option, but after all, my question stresses the correctness of syntax. I didn't ask for making some DNS requeries.
    – AFA Med
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 17:23
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    If memory serves, it was me that made the request (though certainly not the downvote). I would have answered this myself, save that I have little to add to EEAA's excellent answer. I would also direct you to my answer on the question Michael's linked to, above, for a more in-depth analysis.
    – MadHatter
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 13:12
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It often is the case that posting the actual information as-is, including names and/or addresses, will actually help answering the question.

These are some top reasons that come to mind:

  • It's easy to introduce inconsistencies by mistake when obfuscating information. When that happens, it just wastes everyone's time working out something that is not even part of the real question.

  • Someone who is attempting to answer the question can have a quick look for themselves and collect and/or verify information, reducing the amount of effort compared to trying to the same information through a number of comment roundtrips.

Determining if your specific question is such a case is often very difficult when you don't already know the answer.

I think you can expect some amount of scepsis just based on including obfuscated information.


If you still decide to post obfuscated information, at least check and double-check that that everything is consistent and do make it obvious! It's all too common that people replace their own domain names or IP addresses for actual domain names and addresses in use by others (as in your question here!).

Regarding IP addresses and domain names specifically there are reserved names and ranges for the purpose of examples and documentation that won't be mistaken for someone else's addresses or names.

TLD:

example

Second level domains:

example.com
example.net
example.org

IPv4 addresses:

192.0.2.0/24
198.51.100.0/24
203.0.113.0/24

IPv6 addresses:

2001:DB8::/32
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    Just as a note 111.111.111.111 is in a range owned by KDDI (Japanese telecom carrier), bar.com is owned by some individual who has dedicated the bar.com web site to complain about people abusing their domain name.
    – Håkan Lindqvist
    Commented Jan 23, 2016 at 13:10
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    Another common replacement is "domain.com" and "mydomain.com", both of which are owned by actual companies. I sometimes feel I spend an inordinate amount of time replacing those with "example" instead.
    – Jenny D
    Commented Jan 23, 2016 at 14:49

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