Epik formally disrecommended

In addition to being hacked, Epik has been taking weeks or months to register domains and the quality of service has cratered.
Lack of transparency about issues makes recommendation of Epik impossible.

4 files changed, 39 insertions, 36 deletions

diff --git a/content/basic/dns.md b/content/basic/dns.md
index c6d3d42..5225f96 100644
--- a/content/basic/dns.md
+++ b/content/basic/dns.md
@@ -10,30 +10,28 @@ can connect the two using DNS records. DNS (domain name system) records
 are usually put into your registrar and direct people looking up your
 website to the server where your website and other things will be.
 
-Get your IPv4/IPv6 addresses from Vultr and put them into A/AAAA records
-on Epik. Simple process, takes a minute, but here\'s a guide with a
-million images just so you know.
+Get your IPv4/IPv6 addresses from your VPS provider and put them into A/AAAA
+records on your registrar. Simple process, takes a minute, but here\'s a guide
+with a million images just so you know.
 
 ## Open up your Registrar
 
-As before, we will be using
-[Epik](https://www.epik.com/?affid=we2ro7sa6) as a registrar and
-[Vultr](https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8384069-6G) as a server host. Go
-ahead and log into your accounts on both. Open up Epik, or your
-registrar, and click on your domain and then a choice for \"DNS
-records.\" This is the screen you\'ll want to see on Epik.
+As before, we will be using any registrar of your choice and
+[Vultr](https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8384069-6G) as a server host. Go ahead and
+log into your accounts on both. Open up your registrar, or your registrar, and
+click on your domain and then a choice for \"DNS records.\" You'll want to see
+something like this on your registrar's site.
 
-{{< img alt="Blank Epik DNS records" src="/pix/dns-epik.png" link="/pix/dns-epik.png" >}}
+{{< img alt="Blank records" src="/pix/dns-epik.png" link="/pix/dns-epik.png" >}}
 
-Note that we are on the \"External Hosts (A, AAAA)\" tab by default.
-Epik sometimes adds records to this page once you buy a domain. If they
-did, you can go ahead and delete them so they look clean like the
-picture above.
+Note that we are on the \"External Hosts (A, AAAA)\" tab by default. There may
+be default settings set by your registrar. If there are, you can go ahead and
+delete them so they look clean like the picture above.
 
 **All we have to do now is get our IP addresses from Vultr and add new
 DNS records that will send connections to our server.**
 
-Keep the Epik tab open and open Vultr and we will copy-and-paste our IP
+Keep the registrar tab open and open Vultr and we will copy-and-paste our IP
 addresses in.
 
 ## Find your server\'s IP addresses
@@ -45,8 +43,8 @@ attach to it). That is my **IPv4** address.
 
 {{< img src="/pix/dns-ipv4.png" alt="See the IPv4 address?" link="/pix/dns-ipv4.png" >}}
 
-Copy your IPv4 address and on Epik, click the \"Add Record\" record
-button and add two A entries pasting in your IPv4 address like I\'ve
+Copy your IPv4 address and on your registrar's site, click the \"Add Record\"
+record button and add two A entries pasting in your IPv4 address like I\'ve
 done for mine here.
 
 {{< img src="/pix/dns-ipv4-done.png" alt="IPv4 complete" link="/pix/dns-ipv4-done.png" >}}
@@ -74,8 +72,8 @@ Now just click on the **IPv6** submenu to reveal your IPv6 address.
 {{< img alt="The IPv6 address" src="/pix/dns-ipv6.png" link="/pix/dns-ipv6.png" >}}
 
 That ugly looking sequence of numbers and letters with colons in between
-(`2001:19f0:5:ccc:5400:03ff:fe58:324a`) is my **IPv6** address. Yours
-will look something like it. Now let\'s put it into Epik. This time, be
+(`2001:19f0:5:ccc:5400:03ff:fe58:324a`) is my **IPv6** address. Yours will look
+something like it. Now let\'s put it into your registrar's site. This time, be
 sure to select to put in AAAA records as below:
 
 {{< img src="/pix/dns-ipv6-done.png" alt="IPv6 complete" link="/pix/dns-ipv6-done.png" >}}
diff --git a/content/basic/domain.md b/content/basic/domain.md
index 67cdd79..b0fdeff 100644
--- a/content/basic/domain.md
+++ b/content/basic/domain.md
@@ -25,14 +25,22 @@ So let\'s register your domain name!
 
 ## How
 
-Domains can be registered at any accredited <dfn>registrar</dfn>. In this
-guide, I will use the registrar
-[Epik](https://www.epik.com/?affid=we2ro7sa6) because it is one of the
-more high quality and easy to use. The guides on this site will use
-Epik, but if you choose to register your domain with one of the [many,
-many other registrars](https://www.icann.org/en/accredited-registrars),
-you can still do most of what Epik does, albeit options and settings
-might appear in different menus.
+Domains can be registered at any accredited <dfn>registrar</dfn> and there are
+[a lot to choose from](https://www.icann.org/en/accredited-registrars). Some major names are
+[Host Gator](https://www.hostgator.com/domains),
+[Blue Host](https://www.bluehost.com/domains),
+[Name Cheap](https://www.namecheap.com/domains/) or
+[Dream Host](https://www.dreamhost.com/domains/).
+
+There are also sites that are more private like [Njalla](https://njal.la/) and
+[Cheap Privacy](https://cheapprivacy.ru/), which register a domain for you
+under their name, but still allow you access to it. (Normally all websites must
+be registered with the ICANN with a real name and address, but these sites
+allow you to bypass that.)
+
+Choosing a registrar is not permanent, and you can transfer domains to a
+different registrar if get a better deal later, so in most cases, you can just
+choose one and let's head on...
 
 ### Basic info about domain names
 
@@ -49,8 +57,7 @@ might appear in different menus.
 
 ### Looking for domain names
 
-Let\'s go to [Epik\'s site](https://www.epik.com/?affid=we2ro7sa6) and
-you can search for domain names.
+Let\'s go to our registrar's site and you can search for domain names.
 
 You can look for whatever domain name you want. Domains that are already
 bought and owned by someone else might have the option to \"Backorder,\"
diff --git a/content/mail/validate.md b/content/mail/validate.md
index 2e371b2..fbdba50 100644
--- a/content/mail/validate.md
+++ b/content/mail/validate.md
@@ -119,10 +119,9 @@ systemctl reload postfix
 
 ## Adding the DNS record!
 
-We are only one step away from having functioning OpenDKIM. We must add
-the DKIM public key to our server\'s DNS settings, so go ahead and open
-up [your registrar\'s site](https://www.epik.com/?affid=we2ro7sa6) or
-wherever your site\'s DNS settings are.
+We are only one step away from having functioning OpenDKIM. We must add the
+DKIM public key to our server\'s DNS settings, so go ahead and open up your
+registrar\'s site or wherever your site\'s DNS settings are.
 
 The public key is found in the file `/etc/postfix/dkim/mail.txt`, but it
 will display as multiple lines and multiple quoted strings, which is
@@ -145,9 +144,8 @@ host we put it for is `mail._domainkey`.
 
 {{< img alt="Adding the OpenDKIM TXT entry in DNS settings" src="/pix/dkim-01.png" link="/pix/dkim-01.png" >}}
 
-On my registrar, Epik, this is how it is input, but on some registrars,
-it may be required to include your domain name as well as
-`mail._domainkey.example.org`.
+On my registrar, this is how it is input, but on some registrars, it may be
+required to include your domain name as well as `mail._domainkey.example.org`.
 
 If you have your own DNS server, add a TXT entry as follows:
 
diff --git a/static/pix/dns-epik.png b/static/pix/dns-epik.png
index 33d2c40..0bbc8c5 100644
--- a/static/pix/dns-epik.png
+++ b/static/pix/dns-epik.png