A retired address does not return

The hopeful version goes like this. The old address stopped working, so it is probably down for maintenance and will be back. It will not be back.

Why not

The address is derived from the key, not assigned to it. To bring back a string, you would have to produce the key that encodes to it, and key generation is not something you can aim. The search space is large enough that the whole security model rests on nobody being able to hit a chosen target.

There is one boring exception which is not an exception at all. If the operator kept the private key, they can start publishing again whenever they want, and the address works again. That is not the address coming back, that is the service coming back. The key never went anywhere.

What that distinction means for you

A dead address is either paused by somebody who still has the key or gone for good, and from outside those two look identical. You cannot tell which by trying harder. That is the honest end of the analysis, and any page claiming to know which case you are in is guessing.

What people get wrong

The first mistake is treating a saved bookmark as a living link. It is a snapshot of a string that was correct when you saved it. It does not update, it does not expire, and it will not warn you. Years later it looks exactly as authoritative as the day you made it.

The second is the hopeful reading of failure. A retired awazon market url and an overloaded one produce a similar experience. People conclude maintenance because that is the comfortable answer, then keep retrying a string that will never answer again.

The gap somebody else fills

When an address goes quiet, the search for a replacement starts, and that search is the most dangerous moment in the whole cycle. People who would normally check carefully are now motivated, frustrated, and willing to accept an address from wherever it appears.

Nothing about the new string being offered to you is verified by the old one having died. The two facts are unrelated, even though the timing makes them feel connected.

What would move this

Only a break in the key derivation that let somebody produce a private key matching a chosen address. If that were possible, this page would be irrelevant because every onion address everywhere would be forgeable, and the addressing model would be finished.

A weaker move exists. If an operator publishes a signed statement retiring one address and naming another, and you already hold their key, you have a real link between the two. That does not resurrect anything. It gives you evidence about the replacement, which is a different and useful thing. See what that signature proves before you lean on it.

• The current addresses
• Each mirror is its own key
• Why nobody can tell you it is up

Questions people actually ask

My old bookmark stopped working, will it come back?

If the operator still holds the key and chooses to publish again, that same string can answer again. If they retired it, no. From outside you cannot tell which.

Does an address expire on a schedule?

No. There is no lifetime built into an address. It answers as long as somebody publishes descriptors for the key.