One of the most amazing things about the Fediverse is that you can run your own services and set your own rules, building something that represents what is important to you.
If you chose not to run your own software and services, and instead utilize services somebody else runs, it's unlikely you'll be 100% aligned with those who you rely on to run them for you. People are unique, and companies are... companies. It's impossible to be completely on the same page for everything. Therefore, you shouldn't be surprised when they decide not to offer you those services any longer for any reason they choose. Their house, their rules. They owe you nothing.
I've relied on botsin.space to host the @owncast account for a while, but I only recently noticed it's been reduced to a restricted account. Their house, their rules.
So my options are to run my own microblogging service for this single account, or take that functionality offline. If I run it, my service, my rules. But like anybody else, I have to weigh the pros and cons of running yet another service I need to maintain, and this time it's not personally worth it.
Hopefully, this bot has been helpful in sharing live streams to those who wouldn't have normally seen them.
While every #owncast server doesn't choose to be on the Fediverse, hopefully those who want to be shared with others decide to be. And if so, this bot isn't needed anymore, anyway.
Gabe from #Owncast here happy to answer any questions about independent live streaming. While it sounds like out of grasp for most people, it's actually quite easy and low cost to run your own live stream. I've seen many people say they run Owncast on a $5 VPS, or even off their home internet connection using things like the object storage feature of Owncast.
If you'd like to see some use cases detailed there's a document here that goes deep into the numbers to show how for many livestreaming scenarios it's shockingly approachable. https://owncast.online/docs/resources-requirements/
Because it's part of the Fediverse, you can follow OwnCast accounts from Mastodon etc, and when they go live you will see a post in your timeline to let you know.
For example, the RetroStrangeTV livestream can be viewed at:
Was aanwezig bij geweldig inspirerende #PubConf2023. Ben blij dat ik weer hoorde over kunstenaar Julia Janssen en ... weet nu ook dat Mastodon hoort bij #fediverse
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