Edit: Okay, I figured it out.
NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar. Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.
So, as I had guessed, sav.com registered it "for them" for one year more than they actually wanted to register, and then when there was some minor billing issue, used it as an opportunity to do a cash grab. Fuck sav.com, is basically what I'm saying.
Previous comment, before the edit:
IDK what's going on with that web site, but it's wrong. Or, sav.com updated something to backdate the expiration or something else shady like that.
$ whois hexbear.net | head -n20
Domain Name: HEXBEAR.NET
Registry Domain ID: 2584175083_DOMAIN_NET-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois-service.virtualcloud.co
Registrar URL: http://sav.com/
Updated Date: 2025-02-11T17:34:08Z
Creation Date: 2021-01-12T00:35:22Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2026-01-12T00:35:22Z
Registrar: Sav.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 609
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse-contact@sav.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8885808790
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Name Server: NS1-EXPIRED.SAV.COM
Name Server: NS2-EXPIRED.SAV.COM
I trust running whois more than I trust a web site. Like I say, I have no explanation why they would be wrong, but they're wrong. Maybe sav.com registers it "on behalf of" their clients, and sets the meta-expiration one year after to give them time to fuck around with auctions? Something weird like that? And then it's only paid until last month, and because a card had expired or something trivial like that, they decided to throw it into this auction process?
As much as I think it's funny to make fun of Hexbear, I don't think people should be celebrating them getting fucked over by criminals.
Edit: They're over on chapo.chat now, blaming the whole thing not on sav.com, or on themselves for choosing a registrar for an important server without doing due diligence, but on DNS itself and the architects of the internet. I take it back. Fuck 'em.
https://chapo.chat/post/4468515