It appears to be down right now. This isn't a blocking issue.

Instance was down (user here), and now it's back up. But yeah, check if your area might have the domain blacklisted (someone relay this if OP cannot see)

weirdly responds to pings

Some countries choose to block them, like what Saudi Arabia did.

Oof, it's not loading for me either. There was an issue several weeks ago. I wonder if they're having to do maintenance again?

Rule 5. Locking.