alt.hn

4/1/2026 at 11:45:03 PM

ZomboCom stolen by a hacker, sold, now replaced with AI-generated makeover

https://old.reddit.com/r/oldinternet/comments/1raiz8v/zombocom_was_stolen_by_hacker_put_up_for_sale_and/

by bananaboy

4/2/2026 at 1:09:01 AM

The last week of January, the site was intermittently serving back a 429 response (too many requests) as recorded by the wayback machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/Zombo.com

In the first week of February, the site was down.

On the 8th, it was serving an error page from centos.

On the 9th, it was serving the new content. https://lookup.icann.org/en/lookup for zombo.com shows that it was updated on 2026-02-09 20:34:17 UTC

I believe that a more reasonable explanation would be that the domain name expired, someone saw that being the case, bought the domain name and hosted their own version of it.

I'm not sure that "stolen" is the proper verb to use, or that "hacker" is the appropriate attribution.

by shagie

4/2/2026 at 5:14:31 AM

> the domain name expired

It's possible to tell from an rdap call that this isn't the case:

  Event:
    Action: registration
    Date: 1999-10-10T10:57:47Z
  Event:
    Action: expiration
    Date: 2028-10-10T10:57:47Z
  Event:
    Action: last changed
    Date: 2026-02-09T20:34:17Z
The current registration occurred in 1999. Typically, domain registrations are extended in yearly multiples, which can be seen by the fact that it expires on October 10th, the same day that it was registered.

If it expired in 2025, then that expiration would have occurred in October.

That said, you are probably correct that it wasn't a hacker as such. GoDaddy was indeed offering it for sale in February, according to a Reddit thread from that month[0]. That makes me wonder why...

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/oldinternet/comments/1qy566h/is_zom...

by Sophira

4/2/2026 at 1:15:16 AM

Thank you for the explanation!

by bananaboy

4/2/2026 at 3:35:09 AM

That’s what the current page claims, legitimate registration by “New Management”.

> Welcome to… New Management. This domain was purchased openly via GoDaddy. We come in peace (and with a wallet): we’d love to also purchase the rights to the former site's content to help revive the infinite. Until then, everything here is new & unique. Old content rights owners, please reach out. Anything is possible.

by DANmode

4/2/2026 at 12:50:28 AM

html5 zombocom still exists, for your viewing pleasure. you can do anything at zombocom. anything at all. the only limit is yourself.

[1]: https://html5zombo.com/

by paularmstrong

4/2/2026 at 12:57:53 AM

It will never, ever, get old.

by iugtmkbdfil834

4/2/2026 at 3:25:31 AM

Ooh, I really want to change those svg paths to svg circles. :)

by jancsika

4/2/2026 at 12:33:15 AM

I knew anything was possible at ZomboCom, but damn. I never expected this. Guess that's ZomboCom for ya.

by tengbretson

4/2/2026 at 1:12:32 AM

I didn't think I'd be the first person in this (or the reddit) thread to call this new site ZombieCom, but not gonna lie I'm pretty happy about it.

by samplatt

4/2/2026 at 2:26:46 AM

I never imagined this happening. I guess the limitation really was my mind.

by tombert

4/2/2026 at 8:18:35 AM

That's like when the Library of Alexandria was burned

by coldtea

4/2/2026 at 3:35:13 AM

Crappy flash gets replaced by crappy ai gen. Truly the art of the previous generation surpassed by the art of the next.

I ... honestly have very limited grounds for complaint here.

by Kim_Bruning

4/2/2026 at 3:16:15 AM

That's a shame. Now I can't do anything at ZomboCom.

by OuterVale

4/2/2026 at 6:49:59 AM

The only limit is yourself!

by nnx

4/2/2026 at 12:49:11 AM

How does a hacker steal a website? So many questions.

by TurdF3rguson

4/2/2026 at 12:58:01 AM

You steal the domain name, not the website so to speak. Which would mean someone got their registrar credentials most likely.

by silisili

4/2/2026 at 1:02:32 AM

And transferred it away? Registrars make it really hard to do that if you're not the actual person. I'm finding it hard to believe someone can do this anonymously.

by TurdF3rguson

4/2/2026 at 1:30:15 AM

Yeah that’s because it’s not what happened. It’s a common expiration snipe.

by iwontberude

4/2/2026 at 1:58:59 AM

That's neither hacking nor stealing

by TurdF3rguson

4/2/2026 at 8:22:01 AM

Legally and technically no, but it borders on both...

by coldtea

4/2/2026 at 2:34:56 AM

Except the domain did not expire, if you check WHOIS.

by rezonant

4/2/2026 at 1:58:07 AM

Registration expires, someone snaps it up immediately. It happened to a customer of mine with a domain that was their name. It pointed at a page saying it was available for sale for $4000.

by RevEng

4/2/2026 at 4:51:08 AM

Don't domain registars auto-renew domains for you?

by gitaarik

4/2/2026 at 12:46:24 AM

The thread is lacking any detail on how the site was stolen and sold. Perhaps the "OG owner" as the poster calls it sold it for money?

by fred_is_fred

4/2/2026 at 12:50:24 AM

shoot i show that to people every once in a while

by spullara

4/2/2026 at 1:33:21 AM

This is a real shame and I hope the original owners get it back... but that ai slop song is actually a banger

by ParadisoShlee

4/2/2026 at 3:42:07 AM

Right? I grabbed it! Noticed the text says they're willing to host the original content and they'll pay for it?

by Kim_Bruning