ADDRESS CHECK // CHAR SCAN
Verify a WeTheNorth Onion, Character by Character
A version-3 onion is a fixed shape: fifty-six characters drawn from a small alphabet, ending in one known letter. Once you know the shape, a doctored address stands out. This page walks the compare block by block, and you can start without touching the signature.
http://hn2paw7hljeihrk7qm2toniay5bb4cfz46cav5iywnsv64klm45mypqd.onionThis is the reference every check runs against. Copy it, then hold any address you were handed up beside it, one block of characters at a time.
The shape of a real onion address
A modern onion is not random typing. It is a public key written in base32, so only the twenty-six lowercase letters and the digits two through seven are legal. The digits zero, one, eight and nine never show up, and neither does a capital letter. The string is always fifty-six characters long, and the final one is a version marker that reads d for every v3 address in use today. Any candidate that breaks one of those rules is broken before you reach the compare.
Compare it in blocks, not in a glance
Reading fifty-six characters straight through invites your eye to skate over the middle, which is where a swap likes to hide. Cut the string into four blocks of fourteen and check each block against the canon on its own. A change surfaces the moment one block fails to line up.
The canon block on top, a doctored copy underneath. One character is wrong:
Repeat for all four blocks. If every block matches and the shape rules hold, the string itself is clean.
From a pasted string to a verdict
The check runs in one direction. Split the address, compare each block, confirm the shape, then read the result. Only a string that clears every gate earns the signature step on the home page.
Three rules that reject a fake outright
Some fakes fail before a full compare. These three checks take a second each and rule out a whole class of doctored strings.
Contains 0, 1, 8 or 9
Base32 has no room for those digits. An onion showing any of them was typed or altered by hand and is not real.
Has a capital letter
Onion addresses run lowercase throughout. A stray uppercase character means the string has been touched.
Wrong length or ending
Not fifty-six characters, or not ending in the letter d, means it is not a valid v3 address at all.
Clears all three
Right length, legal alphabet, ends in d. Now the block compare and the signature decide the rest.
The five-step address check
- Copy the canon onion from the box above.
- Paste both strings into a plain text editor.
- Split each into four blocks of fourteen.
- Compare block against block, letter for letter.
- Confirm the shape rules, then verify the key.
Take it to the signature
Once the characters line up, the last question is who signed the address. The fingerprint and the signed directory live on the detector home page. Until the key lands in Phase 0, lean on the character compare and the canon.
Address check questions
How long is a genuine WeTheNorth onion?
Fifty-six characters, every time. A version-3 onion is a fixed length, so anything shorter or longer is not the real address.
Can a real onion contain the number one or a zero?
No. Onion addresses use base32, which leaves out zero, one, eight and nine. Any of those digits in a string means it is not genuine.
The first ten characters match. Is that close enough?
No. Clones copy the opening on purpose. A swap usually sits in the middle or near the end, so all fifty-six characters have to match.
Does a matching string mean the site is safe?
No. A correct address only proves it was not altered. Who controls it is settled by the signature, checked on the home page.