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Terminology

This page tracks the terminology when referring to Onion Services.

Definitions

  • Regular internet, or sometimes referred as "clear net": which means someone is connecting to remote endpoints on the internet without using the Tor network.

  • Regular site: a site whose name is available through the DNS (Domain Name System). This usually means that someone is accessing a website by it's DNS domain name and without using the Tor network. This might be ambiguous sometimes, and can refer either to a website that does not have it's .onion counterpart, or just that the user is not accessing the website through Tor.

  • Regular site over Tor: it's a website whose domain name is available in the DNS, but that's being accessed through the Tor network.

  • Onionsite: it's a website whose address is an .onion address and that is reachable only through the Tor network. This also might be a bit ambiguous as sometimes a website can be accessed both as a regular site (through a DNS-based domain name) and as an onionsite (through a .onion address published in the Tor network).

  • Censorship resistance: when content cannot be removed from the internet and usually referred to an Onion Service site; this is different from Tor bridges, that offers censorship circumvention that allows users to connect to the Tor network.

Recommendations

  • "Onion Service" and "Onion Services" instead of "onion service" (recommendation to capitalize where applicable).
  • Use of "onionsite" instead of constructions like ".onion site".

References