I used OpenNIC for a while and it mostly worked. I started to notice some problems resolving .today URLs and had to ask for help in their IRC, and the response was not reassuring. At least one operator do not regularly update or even monitor their servers - I saw down time lasting weeks for one server (fortunately I had configured my router to use two and the second kept working throughout). The .today TLD had existed for several years but had not been added to the DNS servers I used. This isn't a complaint, just an observation after a year of regular use.

I like the idea behind the project, but from personal experience I decided that I had to switch to another provider that had more robust infrastructure and regularly patched their machines. DNS is too critical and I felt the risk of having my DNS requests hijacked by a compromised machine was too great.

(Also, who down-voted the parent comment? Bizarre, maybe that was accidental?)