A couple of days ago, I tried to log in to my old account on netlib.re and discovered that my account had been disabled.
So I sent an email to the support team to request a restoration (mainly because that account had quite a few top-tier 2- and 3-letter domain names). It wasn’t until today that I got a reply, asking me to check the new announcement page on the official website.
So I read their recently published announcement and summed up the main reasons why accounts were deleted:
- The account had more than 50 domain names
- It used delegation (very common among bots). Basically, accounts that hosted domains on CF were all deleted
- I received security alerts (phishing, spam, etc.)
I think almost all accounts that hosted their domains on CF have been deleted. That’s because using delegation NS is a requirement for hosting domains on CF. As a result, a huge number of users were wiped out, and I estimate that the support team won’t be restoring these accounts.
Here’s the original statement from support, in case you want to read it yourself:
13th December 2025: I’ve been purging, a lot.
(French version below / version française plus bas)
Hello everyone, I would like to clarify a few things regarding the events of the last few days on netlibre.
-
I have received numerous complaints of abuse (phishing, among other things). As I am the only person behind the project, I don’t have time to deal with each case individually, and I have been forced to take urgent and drastic measures against bots. As a result, almost 20,000 accounts out of 27,000 were deleted (reducing the number of domains from 160,000 to just 12,000).
-
Delegation was used extensively by bots, and a massive number of accounts were created immediately after this feature was added. As a result, all delegation users were considered bots by default and deleted. Similarly, accounts with more than 50 domains (highly suspected of being automated) were also deleted, as were those that were not linked to a valid email address (this criterion was used to delete old inactive accounts).
-
For remaining users, delegation is once again permitted without resulting in automatic account deletion.
-
Account creation has been temporarily disabled. It will be possible again soon. However, to limit the number of bots, all new accounts must now be created via co-optation rather than free registration to access the free service, which will be limited to 10 domains, without delegation.
-
In the future, which I hope will be soon (but I can’t guarantee anything), in addition to the free service, I will provide a commercial version of netlibre that will allow intensive use, i.e., more than 10 domains (with no upper limit), as well as the use of delegation. Current users who fall into this category will have to switch to this new formula.
-
That being said, the future commercial service will still not be open to abuse. Any reports I receive of phishing or other abuse will result in the account being deleted, whether it is a paid account or not. Similarly, the automated hoarding of numerous domains (via keywords or brute force, for example by taking all domains with one or two letters) is not legitimate use and will result in the immediate deletion of the account, with no possibility of appeal, whether it is a paid account or not.
To summarize, any account has been deleted if:
- it had more than 50 domains
- it used delegation (very popular with bots)
- I received security alerts (phishing, spam, etc.)
Since the deletion, my email inbox has been flooded with requests to restore accounts. Unfortunately, I am unable to verify the honesty of each individual case. As a reminder, I manage this service on a voluntary basis in my spare time. I am sincerely sorry if you were using netlibre in good faith and have been caught up in the collateral damage of the radical measures I have been forced to implement.
My goal now is to enable legitimate and enjoyable use for the 7,000+ accounts that remain.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
