R.I.P Ghostnetworks (1997 – 2008)

For more than a decade, Ghostnetworks has served as a private communication and discussion hub for a group of very interesting people.

Our original goal, even before we got the domain, was to provide a nag-free atmosphere free of spam, free of politics, free of trolls and free of censorship. And we thought the only way to get there was to get away from the Internet.

We even went as far as to create our own name servers and our own custom TLD (.gnx). And for about 5 years, we were running our own network completely bypassing the general Internet. The only way in, was to use our DNS servers.

But it seems, our greatest demons didn’t come from the outside world.

The very things that we tried to avoid were the very things that we introduced into our fold. Discussions that were offensive to some were taken away from everyone.  Files that clearly broke the law (I.E. pirated content) were posted out in the open and many mods did nothing. Several individuals started using their positions of authority to give and take favours.

In short, it has turned into Washington D.C. This is partly my fault as well, as I was busy with other affairs and didn’t pay as much attention as I should have.

Sentimentality won’t get you anywhere, and I know some people will be nostalgic. But nostalgia doesn’t serve any purpose in the end. There’s no point in continuing under the same umbrella if it means having to forget what we set out to do.

What does this mean for you?

Normal operations will go on as long as they need to.

The boards will stay open until everyone collects their work (that server will stay online as long as it’s needed).  The DNS servers will also stay up as long as they are needed and until member hosts move out of their nodes.  Hosted sites will continue to be online as long as the owners want. The IRC server will operate as long as people need the channels. But I would strongly recommend, finding another IRC server.

It’s been fun.

From now on all operations will be run by Section5. And where will Section5 go? I haven’t quite decided yet. But I assure you, it will not go down the same path as our previous home.

Apologies to anyone who didn’t see this coming. But if you didn’t see it coming, then you haven’t been around long enough to miss it anyway.

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