I'd like to clarify something for everyone who is interested in or using Namecoin.
Namecoin has nothing to do with the .bit TLD or the d/ Namespace, and it was not created by Jeremy Rand or Daniel Kraft, whom are more like maintainers than developers.
Namecoin allows you to create nearly an infinite number of Namespaces. The number of Namespaces or key/value pairs you can create is only limited by the number of available namecoins, which, like Bitcoin, is capped at 21 million.
I've done a lot of research on Namecoin over the last 8+ years, and I know for a fact that namecoin.org is not an official representation of Namecoin.
The Namecoin genesis block was mined days before the first "domain" using the .bit TLD was registered. I had the privilege of speaking with the miner who mined all of the early "domains" in the d/ Namespace. He told me the entire story about how vinced contacted him for assistance.
The first "domains" are mined as a proof-of-concept, followed by some "reservations" for the DOT-BIT Project, which used the dot-bit.org domain as their main website. The DOT-BIT Project, which proposed the .bit TLD, is not Namecoin. It is a project that only makes use of Namecoin.
Early Namecoin adopters also established a registry at register.dot-bit.org, where they sold .bit "domains" for one or two Bitcoin.
Some attempted to auction off .bit "domains" on BitcoinTalk, which was not well received by the community:
God I fucking hate domain squatters. The scummy underbelly of the major TLDs and now in Namecoin as well.
You guys are suck fucksticks, I hope you die. Well, if it's not you, it's some other cockgobbler doing it, so might was well make a buck, huh?
Squatting has always been a major issue, and Namecoin is no exception.
I recognize Jeremy Rand and Daniel Kraft's efforts to maintain Namecoin operational, but I am strongly opposed to namecoin.org and the rest of Namecoin's public social media profiles being completely controlled by one single persona, which I interpret as squatting and a serious attempt to hijack the entire Namecoin project.
Namecoin's price has dropped from $10-$13 since Jeremy Rand took control of those resources and domain names, and it has been unable to recover for many years. I've seen Jeremy Rand repeatedly attack people who fork Namecoin, claiming that the forks are "hostile" and contain "malware," despite the fact that he forked Namecoin himself.
Today, Namecoin "development" (if one can call it that) is simply merging from upstream Bitcoin, as it has been for the last 11 years.
I recently discovered that between two upstream auxpow merges, Jeremy Rand and Daniel Kraft hard coded Namespaces into Namecoin Core, which is completely unacceptable. Namecoin, as previously stated, has nothing to do with the .bit TLD and is not limited to the d/ Namespace. Anyone who claims otherwise is hostile and deceptive.
This is an open source project, just like Bitcoin; none of you, Daniel Kraft, or Jeremy Rand own it, and none of you are in a position to say that forks are "hostile" and may contain "malware."
Namecoin is much bigger than any of you can imagine, and it has a bright future if the disgusting behavior displayed by those who control the repository on GitHub, or by those who post here nonsensical claims about other Namecoin users, is avoided.
BayAreaCoins has been helping Namecoin for many years by providing a stable exchange where users can easily, quickly, and anonymously obtain Namecoin in exchange for Bitcoin or other coins. Any criticism of him is completely ridiculous and unacceptable.
I strongly advise the shenanigan who are spamming this topic to find something else to play with. You're a complete noob who has never written a single line of code (not even proposed anything positive in an acceptable manner).
I hope neither Daniel Kraft nor Jeremy Rand take this as an insult; I just wanted to make it clear that they have no control over Namecoin and may believe that they are protecting Namecoin from this shenanigan, but that is fundamentally flawed because they themselves contribute to Namecoin's complete centralization, which is not what we want. They should seriously consider abandoning the project, especially after the recent hard coding of d/ dd/ id/ and idd/ Namespaces into a software that hasn't seen any restrictions on Namespaces in the last 11 years.