WeTheNorth onion links — FAQ
What does .onion mean?
It is the special-use domain suffix for Tor hidden services. Addresses ending in .onion resolve only inside the Tor network, and — unlike normal domains — they are derived from the service's cryptographic key. That makes them self-authenticating: reaching the address proves you reached the key-holder.
Why is the WTN onion address 56 characters?
Version 3 onion addresses encode the service's Ed25519 public key in base32: exactly 56 characters before the .onion. Our onion URL page dissects the real address character by character.
Can I open it without Tor Browser?
No. Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox cannot resolve .onion names — that is by design. Install the Tor Browser from torproject.org (our access guide), or use the clearnet mirrors for casual browsing.
Does the onion address change?
Rarely, and always announced first on the official forum. Mirror domains rotate more often; the canonical onion address has been stable. Treat any unannounced "new onion link" as a phishing attempt until the forum confirms it.
Onion link or mirror — which is safer?
The onion link, cryptographically. v3 addresses cannot be impersonated; clearnet domains can be imitated by look-alikes. Mirrors win on convenience — any browser, fast. The standard pattern: browse on mirrors, log in and order on Tor.
Why http and not https on the onion link?
Tor already encrypts onion traffic end-to-end and authenticates the service by its key — the things TLS exists to do. The http:// scheme on an onion address carries none of the risks it does on clearnet.
I typed the address and got an error.
Most likely a typo or a stale circuit. Re-copy the address from our onion URL page, and if it still fails, use "New Tor circuit for this site" from the Tor menu. If a mirror loads fine, the market is up and your circuit was the issue.