🚀 go-pugleaf

Wow, so I've finally found my way here... Ok, I'm going to start from
scratch. I didn't get any email response, so perhaps I'll have more luck
posting this here, now. What follows is the text from a message I posted on
our forum about the closure of the Demon Unreal Tournament demo servers:


>>>>>>>>>
I'm posting this because two days ago (note: this message date's from last
October), we lost something that's important to a lot of us. Some of you
might not know about the Demon UT demo servers, but they've been here, with
us, since the beginning.
Demon ran three UT demo servers:

- The *FIRST* public UT demo CTF server: most of the "big names" in FV UT
spent time playing there, for a couple of years it WAS the place to be seen

- The *ONLY* public UT demo Domination server in the world: a personal
favourite of demo luminaries like YourReplacement and Aegis!

- The LONGEST RUNNING UT demo Deathmatch server: until Houston 6 made the
switch, this was the only place you could go... and it saw a LOT of action

At some point about a year ago, someone decided to stop "advertising" the
servers, so unless you already knew about them, you weren't likely to get
the chance to use them. It's a situation we (the Demon regulars!) tried to
do something about - I'm certain that if we could have had that decision
reversed, the server's would have seen a lot more traffic.
The Demon servers were our *home* servers - I mean, those of us who have
played there spent more time using them than the ReH, the Houston or any of
the clan servers put together - they were important to us, and a valuable
demo community resource. Two days ago - they vanished. We don't know what's
happened, there's been no explanation for it, they just aren't pinging
anymore. After three years, the Demon servers have gone.

I'm asking you now, whether you're a Demon regular or a fellow community
member that would benefit from having access to the servers in future - make
your voice heard!
I want the Demon admin to know how important Demon is and would be again to
us, and I need all of you to help me get that message across.
If you do ONE thing today, make it this!

Two ways you can help:

- Add a post to this thread, and write about what Demon means to you, or
about how important it is that we have access to public UT demo servers.
We're running out of them - the loss of the three Demons is a BIG blow

- Send an email to the Demon game server administrator: explain the
situation and why you want the servers back! If you're feeling lazy (fair
enough), copy my email (below), and add your name to the end of it. Get the
numbers up, it'll only take a couple of minutes to do - do it! :)

I'm really hoping everyone will come together on this, it would be great to
get everybody behind it - if we can generate enough support, the admin might
realise that they've made a mistake. We want Demon back!
>>>>>>>>>


As I say, no-one ever got back to me, and I've found no news on the site
about what might have happened. I'd really appreciate it if someone
in-the-know could give me some information, feelings are as raw as at the
time of first-posting! Many thanks in advance, it'd be great to hear from
you soon.



A follow up to my original forum message:


>>>>>>>>>
Hey everyone, I wanted to add some extra information to my previous message
about the UT demo Demon servers.
We've made a good start, there's been a steady trickle of emails to the
server admin, a few forum posts, and even some phone calls! But we need to
keep them coming :)

I don't know about the rest of you, but my favourites list is getting pretty
short. Three weeks ago I had 15 active entries. Today I have 7. Demon ran
three of those 15 servers - three *great* servers that a lot of demo folk
have got a lot of use out of. The Houston servers are fantastic, but it's
good to have somewhere else where we can go.

At the moment we're down to *one* DeathMatch server, and one CTF reg weapons
server. Demon ran a second DeathMatch server and another reg weapons
server - not to mention the ONLY Domination server for demo. in the WORLD!
I'll repeat what I've said on one of the other community boards: the Demon
servers weren't being advertised anymore. We think that the drop off in
player numbers was the reason that they were shut down. This isn't some poor
guy running the servers out of his bedroom - Demon is a *massive* commercial
company - it's not a money issue. If we can *convince* the admin that there
are still people who would want to use them, then we can get them back
online again. One aspect about this whole thing that's really bothering me
is that the Quake 3 Arena DEMO servers running out of the same site. ARE
STILL UP! The Q3A players get to keep their servers, but us poor UT folk
miss out.

So I'm asking you again - please - we can all benefit from having these
servers to play on, all you need to do is let the admin know that you would
like them back online. There are two ways that you can help, and they're
both quick and painless!
The first would be to write an email, direct to the people in charge, to let
them know that you want the servers back. In fact, it's even easier than
that: I've already written out an email that you can send (see below). All
you need to do is copy and paste it into your email program, sign your name
at the bottom, and then send it off - simple!

The second is - add a message to our forum thread about it: just a couple of
lines to show that you support our campaign to bring the Demon servers back.

This is a call to arms! Go on. it'll only take you twenty seconds to send
off the email, do it for the UT demo community!