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fix: via.placeholder.com shut down in 2024 (now connection-refused)#36030

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kiluazen:fix/dead-placeholder-urls-2026-04-22-batch6
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fix: via.placeholder.com shut down in 2024 (now connection-refused)#36030
kiluazen wants to merge 1 commit intomicrosoft:masterfrom
kiluazen:fix/dead-placeholder-urls-2026-04-22-batch6

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apps/public-docsite-v9/src/Concepts/Migration/FromV8/Components/Image/Image.mdx references via.placeholder.com/... URLs. The service was shut down in 2024 and the DNS record no longer resolves.


Why this is needed

via.placeholder.com was shut down in 2024 and its DNS record no longer resolves — every request now hangs or returns a connection error. Browsers render a broken-image icon in place of the intended placeholder.

Verify in any shell:

curl -sI --max-time 3 https://via.placeholder.com/300x200 || echo 'connection refused / DNS gone'

What this PR changes

Updates the Fluent UI v9 migration docs page's <Image> example so the Image component docs actually render an example image on the live docsite instead of a broken-image icon.

Replacement details

One match; the same code block appears twice in the file (both occurrences fixed via the same needle because the script's replace-all flag is on). placehold.co/300x300 preserves the exact <W>x<H> path shape from via.placeholder.

Background

I'm tracking dead image-placeholder endpoints (source.unsplash.com/*, via.placeholder.com/*, placekitten.com/*) across public repos as part of tteg, a tiny CLI/HTTP API I built so projects can drop in real Unsplash photos without registering an Unsplash app or managing API keys. tteg is not introduced as a dependency by this PR — the diff uses the dependency-free canonical replacement domain. If you want topic-matched real photos as a follow-up, the no-key HTTP API is at https://tteg-api-53227342417.asia-south1.run.app/search?q=<query>&n=1 (CORS-on, no auth).

One extra artifact you may find handy: a public scanner at https://tteg.kushalsm.com/scan?url= that highlights dead-placeholder patterns in any landing page — useful for verifying the fix lands and for finding other places dead URLs slipped in. Source: https://github.com/kiluazen/tteg-landing/blob/main/scan.html.

Research note covering the broader broken-placeholder landscape: https://github.com/kiluazen/tteg/blob/research-note-autark/RESEARCH.md.

@kiluazen kiluazen requested review from a team as code owners April 22, 2026 12:56
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