A Dark Matter mirror status should describe what was checked, when it was checked and whether the destination is a clearnet or Dark Matter onion address.
A label is a time-specific observation
“Operational” should not be treated as a permanent promise. It means a defined check succeeded at a stated time. Availability may change after that observation, which is why a Dark Matter mirror status needs a timestamp and a short explanation of the check behind it.
A status page that repeats “online” without saying when it checked the destination provides less useful information than a cautious page that says verification is pending.
Operational
Operational means the address responded normally during the most recent documented check. The label should appear with an observation date and, for frequently changing information, a time zone. It does not prove that every page, feature or transaction path works correctly.
Degraded
Degraded means the destination responds but access is intermittent, slow or limited. A useful note should identify what was observed—for example, repeated timeouts or unusually slow responses—without presenting speculation as the confirmed cause.
Offline
Offline means the address did not respond during a defined check. The cause may be maintenance, an infrastructure fault, filtering or a traffic-related incident. “Offline” describes the observation; it should not automatically be interpreted as a permanent closure.
Verification pending
Verification pending means the information required to publish or confirm a Dark Matter link is incomplete. The source may be unknown, the destination may not match the documented address or the last reliable review may be too old. This is the correct status when certainty is not available.
Last reviewed and last changed are different
“Last reviewed” records when the status was checked. “Last changed” records when the label itself moved from one state to another. A professional status history keeps these concepts separate, because an address may be reviewed several times without changing state.
What a complete status entry should contain
- A clear address type, such as web or network-specific.
- A current label with a plain-language definition.
- A full observation date and time zone when appropriate.
- The method or source used for verification.
- A note when the check covers only basic availability.
Avoid false precision
Exact uptime percentages require continuous and reliable monitoring. A manually maintained page should not display “99.9% uptime” unless it has the monitoring history to support that number. Honest limitations build more trust than invented precision.