Nexus market mirrors, as published on this site
nexusb2l7fmqnefwphyy7m5zjhlkytlbo7qbb5lu5dlczr3azgii2gyd.onionnexusma2iqgauqqvjcgds4ckv5xbf272tkfagq4epojjhsgleqpwxiqd.onionnexusabcd6tyfhdwilyitaqiri6tisj2v2hueyjuj6qkvd6azvi5tuqd.onionPublished as supplied. This site does not probe an onion, so nothing here is a claim that a given address opens for you right now.
This is the dossier for a trap that has been around as long as displays have. Two letters, r and n, fuse into a single m on a small screen or a low resolution scan of a nexus market address, and the paste carries the wrong shape.
What it is
The two letters r and n sit next to each other in an address and, in many fonts and at many resolutions, present themselves as a single m. The reader who copies the address then either types m where the source had rn, or types rn where the source had m. Either way the string that ends up in the address bar is not the string that opens the market.
The trap does not care which of the two directions is used. The fusion is the same problem seen from either side. Fonts that squeeze letter spacing to save room on a slide or a header line make the fusion easier. Fonts that pull letters apart to feel airy make the split easier. Both are common on pages that publish a nexus market address as a display element rather than as a token to be copied.
Where the shape hides
A screenshot of a small onion string in a chat bubble is one place. The chat font is proportional, the letters are packed close together, and the r and the n meet without a visible seam. A printed page held at arms length is another. The eye at that distance smooths the two vertical strokes together into one wider stroke, and the reader reads it as a single m.
A retyping from a phone screenshot into a desktop paste is the third surface. The reader glances at the phone, types the address into the desktop, and drops the seam between the two letters without noticing. The rn on the source becomes an m on the desktop, and the desktop paste opens nothing.
Lifeline
- Two letters in a proportional font
- Fused into a single m in a copy
- Split back in a monospace column
How to catch it
The catch is a monospace font again. In a monospace font every character sits in a fixed column. The pair rn occupies two columns. The single letter m occupies one column. A reader who copies the address into a plain text field with a monospace face and counts columns can see the difference in a moment. The address bar on tor browser is monospace, so a copy of the wrong shape into the bar shows the wrong column count before the reader even presses enter.
- On screen
- Enlarge the text and look for a seam between the two strokes. A seam that reappears at a larger view is the pair rn. A seam that does not is the letter m.
- On paper
- Hold the page closer than reading distance. The eye at close range separates strokes it fuses at reading distance.
- In a paste
- Count the characters. Fifty six is the target. Fifty five means a pair has been lost. Fifty seven means a single letter has been split.
What this card does not claim
- It does not print a nexus market address with this trap in full. The card describes the fusion in words on purpose.
- It does not say the pair rn is more common in the alphabet than the letter m. Both are common in onion strings.
- It does not name the fonts that fuse the pair worst. Most proportional fonts fuse it to some degree.
A copy that counts to the right length
A copy that counts to fifty six characters before the .onion label is a copy that has neither lost a character nor gained one. Counting is the simplest defence against this class of trap. Every nexus market address on the panel above holds that count. A reader who has read this dossier can count the panel above and see the length hold across all three.
The other letter pairs that fuse
The pair rn is the most familiar case, but not the only one. The pair vv fuses into a wider w on many display fonts. The pair cl runs together as a d on serif faces where the c has an open bowl. The pair nn fuses into a single m in the same way as rn on tight fonts. Each of these can appear in a v3 onion because each of the letters involved is inside the base32 alphabet.
The reader who has caught the rn shape once has trained the eye for the whole family. The catch is the same in each case. Copy the string into a monospace column, count the width, and count the character count. The counts are the whole defence, and the counts are small enough that the reader can hold them in their head between the source and the paste.
Why display fonts are the surface at risk
Display fonts are made for a headline, a slide title or a marketing image. They tighten letter spacing to save room. They enlarge counters so the shape reads at distance. They round terminals to soften the line. All three treatments make the pair rn fuse and the letter m split, because all three treatments prioritise the impression of the run over the identity of each character. A nexus market address does not belong in a display font. It belongs in a monospace field where each character stands on its own.