So it turns out .cat is only for Catalonia. I didn’t know this, just thought it was a neat hostname. So… they finally caught me not being Catalan, and they’re taking my domain away.
It’s sad. I’m not really sure what I plan to do, but in about a week, rss.ponder.cat will be no more. Sorry gamers. No promises but one possibility would be to set up a replacement instance, and just send everyone a DM with links to be able to get their subscriptions via the new instance instead.
People are going to complain at me about having to block the new bots, too. Hooray! Well, life goes on.
If you don’t mind sharing, what bot were you using to manage the RSS feeds? I’m also curious what the operating costs / specs for the instance?
It’s just a one-off fetching script I made. Hosting for it and ponder.cat together is just on a super basic $30/mo VPS, I think it is 4 CPUs and 16 GB memory.
If you need help migrating !usa@ponder.cat to quokk.au or piefed.social, let me know.
And I thought only 2-character TLDs were associated with countries.
Well, this really sucks. I’m truly sorry to hear about this.
I hope you will be able to resurrect under a different domain. You’ll be very missed otherwise.
Thank you! Yeah, I’ll figure something out. I might also just get a normal account on someone else’s server like a normal person. My only real concern is preserving the RSS stuff, I feel like it’s a good thing.
I’ve been meaning to add a RSS-to-community-post feature to PieFed for a while. The existence of your instance was the only thing stopping me, really.
Sorry to hear that. Thank you for your contributions Mx.Bucket
I don’t know if you have to be austrian to register it, but rss.ponderc.at would be possible
Holy shit that’s a wonderful idea… it is fine to get an .at domain no matter who you are, apparently, although there are subdomains (.ac.at and .gv.at and like that) that are reserved for particular Austrian uses.
Also, Hostinger’s uncanny valley AI-generated commentary which it emits unprompted every time you want to see how much a domain costs, has returned.
- ponderc.at: “This domain is ideal for a thoughtful cat-related blog.”
IDK, maybe it will lead to too many typos or be confusing… I do like the idea but I’ll want to think on it, I’m not even really decided about what I want to do. I feel like anyone who’s not in on the joke will just have trouble remembering it.
Other Hostinger domain commentary:
- beehaw.online: “This domain is ideal for a beekeeping community platform.”
- mander.social: “This domain is ideal for community engagement and networking platforms. It suits social initiatives or collaborative projects effectively.”
- hexbear.shop: “This domain is ideal for a niche retail store. It can showcase unique products related to its theme.”
- gruesome.dog: “This domain is ideal for horror-themed pet content. It suits unique dog merchandise with a macabre twist.”
And so on. Don’t use Hostinger BTW. I have learned that there’s a reason they are cheap. Also, it cheerfully informs me that I can get gruesome.dog + gruesome.info + gruesome.online as a big bundle, for just $8.97 for the first year. A steal.
That’s a bummer. Thank you for all your work, ponder.cat is a great resource. Whatever you choose to do, I wish you the best!
Are you able to offer a Catalan-language version parallel to the English-language? I believe that would make you compliant.
Maybe start with machine-translated and then see if someone who’s fluent can help out.
IDK… it’s a good idea, but at the same time, if I was Catalonia I probably wouldn’t want English speaking people using my domains just because it means a word in their language, even if they were also setting up a half-translated Catalan side also. I might work but I think it’s probably better just to move to a domain that’s intended for it.
…may permit registrations in .cat TLD to the following:
… public or private entities whose aim is promoting the Catalan culture.https://domini.cat/en/rules-of-the-cat-domain/
It’s probably stretching the intent, but it seems to technically meet the requirement.
