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

▲ ZomboCom stolen by a hacker, sold, now replaced with AI-generated makeover(old.reddit.com)

69 points by bananaboy 12 hours ago | 32 comments

▲ shagie 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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.

	▲	Sophira 6 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> 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...
	▲	bananaboy 10 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Thank you for the explanation!
	▲	DANmode 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		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.

▲ paularmstrong 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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/

	▲	iugtmkbdfil834 10 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It will never, ever, get old.
	▲	jancsika 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Ooh, I really want to change those svg paths to svg circles. :)

▲ tengbretson 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

	▲	samplatt 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		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.

▲ tombert 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

▲ coldtea 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That's like when the Library of Alexandria was burned

▲ 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

▲ Kim_Bruning 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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.

▲ OuterVale 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

	▲	nnx 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The only limit is yourself!

▲ TurdF3rguson 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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

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silisili 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

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

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TurdF3rguson 10 hours ago | parent [-]

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.

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iwontberude 10 hours ago | parent [-]

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

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TurdF3rguson 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That's neither hacking nor stealing

	▲	coldtea 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Legally and technically no, but it borders on both...

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rezonant 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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

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RevEng 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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.

	▲	gitaarik 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Don't domain registars auto-renew domains for you?

▲ callbacked 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

if there is any consolation, this is still up

https://github.com/Jonty/zombocom/

https://welcometozombo.com

▲ mattoxic 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Another little corner of the internet is gone.

Had to check... but this is still here https://dack.com/web/bullshit.html

▲ fred_is_fred 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

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?

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bananaboy 11 hours ago | parent [-]

Yeah I'm not sure. I haven't found anything else yet about this. The reddit poster posted this screenshot of an email with the (apparently) original owner https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....

	▲	Retr0id 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		A more direct source for the screenshot: https://old.reddit.com/r/InternetIsBeautiful/comments/1qz3it...

▲ spullara 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

shoot i show that to people every once in a while

▲ ParadisoShlee 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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

	▲	Kim_Bruning 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Right? I grabbed it! Noticed the text says they're willing to host the original content and they'll pay for it?