Unrelated to the article but seeing .tk brings back many memories. As a kid without a bank account let's alone an international credit card (VISA/Mastercard), dot.tk is the only way to put a website online with your name. I created countless of websites with .tk for classmates, school and families.
Same here. .tk was the only one back then that allowed you to have your own domain name without subdomains. My memory is that: 1. freeserver.com/~userna 2. username.freeserver.com 3. username.fs.com 4. username.tk Then we grew up a bit and started paying domains :')
$7/yr for a domain was one of the very first internet purchases I made. Then that set me down a path of finding free dynamic DNS services. For a short time my website and Invision forum were only online when I was, but I felt like I'd beaten the advertisers.