Can everyone get a category?

sure, this makes sense, but only if the category is actually used!

The reason I suggested to use the Other category for the first call for collaborators (see the onboarding discussion) is because I was worried that people might ask for a category, and then either a) not post in it, or b) post in it, but not receive any response.

If we give out lots of categories but they are not used, it fills up the Cities category with empty subcategories, makes the forum look inactive, and lowers the signal-to-noise ratio.