Recognizing the two generations
Older onion services used short hostnames that were commonly sixteen characters before the suffix. Current v3 hostnames are much longer and encode stronger cryptographic information.
The Tor Project deprecated v2 onion services and ended support in 2021. Its current setup documentation states that v3 is the supported format and that the older generation is obsolete: Tor onion-service setup.
Why the old links fail
A v2 address does not become a v3 address by adding characters. The service operator must create or publish a v3 service and distribute the new hostname. An old directory that shows only a short address cannot reliably infer the replacement.
A browser or gateway may display a generic failure, but that does not identify whether the organization moved, closed, or was copied elsewhere.
Directory treatment
A responsible directory should never silently replace an old address with a newly found one. It should record:
- the old v2 hostname;
- the source that originally connected it to the operator;
- the replacement v3 hostname;
- the operator’s replacement announcement;
- the date the directory updated the record;
- whether the old service is permanently historical.
Search and archive implications
Old pages can continue to rank or receive links long after their addresses stop working. Search engines may therefore send users to a historically important but operationally useless page.
The correct solution is not to change the year in the title. The page should be reframed as history, and the current resource should have its own accurate canonical URL.
Reader checklist
When you encounter a short onion hostname:
- Treat it as historical unless a current official source says otherwise.
- Do not use an unknown gateway that claims to convert it.
- Find the organization’s established clearnet page.
- Look for a v3 replacement announcement.
- Compare the full new hostname.
- Record the date and source.
Why historical preservation still matters
Old addresses can help researchers understand the development of onion services, directory networks, and online communities. Their value is archival, not operational. Clear labeling lets a page serve that historical purpose without misleading current users.