Status
Not open for further replies.

nYXem

Active Member
1,752
2010
249
660
Hi good folks,

I'm an old timer and I'm not sure how many people from my time are still active in this forum.

WJ was thriving back in the day (I'm talking about the late 2000's and until 2012). It was the hub of webmasters running Warez forums and blogs. I ran a pretty decent one myself.

But then Warez took a couple of big hits:
  1. Google Panda update
  2. Crackdown from law enforcement authorities (remember Megaupload saga?)
Along with Megaupload, Hotfile went down, Fileserve and Filesonic followed. Uploaders suddenly lost their source of revenue. Webmasters were no longer getting the kind of traffic from Google that could sustain their projects.

Unfortunately, it directly affected WJ and it seems to have never recovered from there. Many webmasters stopped doing warez and I myself got busy with life and stopped hanging out here.

However, from time to time I used to come back and see what was happening here. I would not see any familiar faces.
Back in the days, I remember there were great guys such as Mr Happy and JmZ and so many more, people who were great at either coding or SEO or server administration.
There used to be discussions about different topics. The members used to cooperate with each other on various projects. I remember having a huge (trust me, huge) like of contacts on my msn (yes, we mostly used msn back then), and most of them were from WJ.

Enough of the nostalgia.

All I see now is file hosting and video hosting services dominating the latest threads. All that webmasters talk about are porn sites (:P). There's hardly any constructive discussion going on here.

What's the way ahead for WJ?
Why is WJ not trying to get out of warez/porn/upload/streaming/piracy completely and make a fresh start with a new idea?
Why not try and turn WJ into a serious webmaster forum where constructive discussions are promoted and encouraged?
 
19 comments
Being a warez webmaster stopped being worthwhile a decade ago for the vast majority. Those that still exist wouldn't be discussing their activities in public.

Traditional forums (not just warez) have also died and content is now more centralized (eg. Reddit)

HTTP warez now focuses on 'earning money' via attracting uploaders and selling premium memberships/ad revenue on a churn basis with a new one appearing every few days. Similar with streaming. It makes the market even less palatable as it's pretty scammy. It started with WUpload/Fileserve back in the day and has been repeated ad nauseum by hundreds of file hosts who have come and gone.

I use torrents. I can't think of the last time I used a HTTP warez link.

WJ is what it is and I don't think starting fresh would help with anything. Nobody at WJunction has done anything wrong, it's just that the market it originally served has disappeared.

Anyone who values their skills isn't working with warez (running a forum, blog, etc.) as a 'job' nowadays. Those that ran sites back in the day have moved on and nobody is around to replace them (as it's a waste of time). All the DDL's are dead (Katz, Phaze, DDL2), all the big forums are dead (Warez-BB, ProjectW, WarezScene, TehParadox, ForumW), and the 'high earning blogs' (HeroTurko, FreshWap) have gone the way of the dodo.
 
Last edited:
Being a warez webmaster stopped being worthwhile a decade ago for the vast majority. Those that still exist wouldn't be discussing their activities in public.

Traditional forums (not just warez) have also died and content is now more centralized (eg. Reddit)

HTTP warez now focuses on 'earning money' via attracting uploaders and selling premium memberships/ad revenue on a churn basis with a new one appearing every few days. Similar with streaming. It makes the market even less palatable as it's pretty scammy. It started with WUpload/Fileserve back in the day and has been repeated ad nauseum by hundreds of file hosts who have come and gone.

I use torrents. I can't think of the last time I used a HTTP warez link.

WJ is what it is and I don't think starting fresh would help with anything. Nobody at WJunction has done anything wrong, it's just that the market it originally served has disappeared.

Anyone who values their skills isn't working with warez (running a forum, blog, etc.) as a 'job' nowadays. Those that ran sites back in the day have moved on and nobody is around to replace them (as it's a waste of time). All the DDL's are dead (Katz, Phaze, DDL2), all the big forums are dead (Warez-BB, ProjectW, WarezScene, TehParadox, ForumW), and the 'high earning blogs' (HeroTurko, FreshWap) have gone the way of the dodo.
Yes, can't disagree with you. And that's my point. Forget warez. It was never a career option and those it was were fools.

And now that market is long gone anyway.

However, I feel there's a lot that the WJ administrators and members could have done to give this place a new direction. Instead, they chose to stick to what worked for the forum before.

For example, if you look at the "What's new" section in the sidebar, it doesn't look like a webmaster forum. That's unfortunate.

We cannot say that forums are dead. There are quite a few webmaster forums that are running better than ever. A whole lot of users still prefer traditional forums and that's not going to change anytime soon.

Webmasters who are serious about their craft are more interested in the knowledge and resources they get from a place, rather than how it's served.
 
WJunction for me was a place where the people who had websites listed in katz would go to seek help and advice, I didn't join when it first opened as I had no reason to but then tools started to get developed such as the auto katz submitter and then I remember Hyperz forum leecher being another big thing, as like mentioned before JmZ, Dom and other geniuses would release their projects and works here which made it for a very exciting time.

So from my viewpoint the way to entice new people would be to have new things, exclusive things, otherwise there is no reason or interest in returning.

But as you mentioned, megaupload, hotfile, rapidshare etc all went awry, germany and other countries started following DMCA as new legislation was being passed in their respected countries.

I don't think WJunction will ever be like how it once was unless a new development or project is created that has a use for a mass audience (create it poorly so lots of people start asking for help, then fix it ??)

The reason I came back is for nostalgia, I don't have the spare time like I once did but often contemplate when I will properly be active online again, I guess there needs to be something worth returning for.

WJunction was more than file hosts and web hosts because it had Katz as its backbone, now there needs to be a replacement for katz that WJunction can accommodate for.. But then I don't know any answer or solution, it's been quite a while since anything aside from the software/theme has changed.
 
It was good back in the day, searching through the forums looking for snippets/tools/scripts/apps to make life easier when sharing files, tips on improving features on your sites, upload tools, download tools, auto posters, auto submitters, DDL scripts and mods & making a few $ on the way. Loads of information was scattered around Wjunction, Now most information is obsolete and uploaders aren't webmasters and only want to earn a bit of $. & Freddys tools do the job.
 
A lot happens since 2008-2010. We are the latest people which survive through years doing this shit. Warez changed a lot and more focus nowadays is at books/video tutorials.
A lot of great sites and forums are gone forever and uploaders keep secret where they post because is hard game now with so small places to share.
As webmaster google fucked my sites, even I have good white SEO after few DMCA my site will lost in end of search results.
Adult content changed too, but not to complain, it always give some $.

I started to share for free and time evolved me too, now I want only to earn, even content sometimes is good sometimes is low quality.

And also I think with our generation warez will end, or at least warez we've known.
 
WJunction for me was a place where the people who had websites listed in katz would go to seek help and advice, I didn't join when it first opened as I had no reason to but then tools started to get developed such as the auto katz submitter and then I remember Hyperz forum leecher being another big thing, as like mentioned before JmZ, Dom and other geniuses would release their projects and works here which made it for a very exciting time.

So from my viewpoint the way to entice new people would be to have new things, exclusive things, otherwise there is no reason or interest in returning.

But as you mentioned, megaupload, hotfile, rapidshare etc all went awry, germany and other countries started following DMCA as new legislation was being passed in their respected countries.

I don't think WJunction will ever be like how it once was unless a new development or project is created that has a use for a mass audience (create it poorly so lots of people start asking for help, then fix it ??)

The reason I came back is for nostalgia, I don't have the spare time like I once did but often contemplate when I will properly be active online again, I guess there needs to be something worth returning for.

WJunction was more than file hosts and web hosts because it had Katz as its backbone, now there needs to be a replacement for katz that WJunction can accommodate for.. But then I don't know any answer or solution, it's been quite a while since anything aside from the software/theme has changed.
I agree with every single word of yours. It's good to see a familiar face @Sp32 although I'm not sure how many would remember me :(
It was good back in the day, searching through the forums looking for snippets/tools/scripts/apps to make life easier when sharing files, tips on improving features on your sites, upload tools, download tools, auto posters, auto submitters, DDL scripts and mods & making a few $ on the way. Loads of information was scattered around Wjunction, Now most information is obsolete and uploaders aren't webmasters and only want to earn a bit of $. & Freddys tools do the job.

I guess you're talking about some tool called themaposter which was a huge hit. I remember there was one more which was ruling before that, probably called Extreme Poster from ExtremeCoderz owned by JmZ (not sure if my memory serves me well).
You seem to be an old timer too buddy, although I don't remember anybody called Tango. Either you were not very active when I was around or you got your username changed later?
Post automatically merged:

I have been active on a few other forums as well, but I must confess WJ always felt like home. How I wish a group of members could take up the responsibility to push some productive activity here. I would be super happy to do my part and start contributing again.
 
Last edited:
What others have said, plus a lot of us just "grew up". People got jobs, a family/kids, not as much free time, etc. The DMCA is out of control, even outside of the warez scene. And the odds of it getting even worse are significantly greater than the odds of it getting any better. Just look at how it's getting abused against legitimate content creators. Hell, it's even being used to suppress free speech now because there are little to no repercussions for DMCA abuse. It's a depressing state of affairs to say the least.

As for WJ, I don't think much can be done. Any legit niche might as well be a subreddit these days, or a Discord server, or a Facebook group (ugh). While the warez (webmaster) niche is really small now compared to back in the day it's still a niche a WJ dominates, and I think the best option for WJ is to stick with it and hope something new comes along that will boost interest again. Advances in 3D printing might be something to keep an eye on as that has the potential to become the holy grail of piracy. Who wouldn't want to download/pirate that new iPhone 32 or Galaxy 81? But that's obviously not something for the near future. Regardless, at some point you'll be able to print more than just a plastic model. Imagine a 3D printer that can print any material at the atomic level... But I'm getting carried away lol.

I remember there was one more which was ruling before that, probably called Extreme Poster from ExtremeCoderz owned by JmZ (not sure if my memory serves me well).

ExtremeCoderz was Jayfella's project and the software was Multi-Poster.
 
Hello,

I knew WJunction a long time ago, but never register. Perhaps because I not feel interest in that moment.

In my opinion, I have a different scenario and opinion related with that.

Warez still giving money, that is not the root of the cause.Seriously even if Google penalize your website, you can still make a good money, you have short and easy remember domain and you will make money.

It also depends of the countries, some countries like US/UK requires more attention from Google to remove it from Google Search in UK/US, not mean that you will be delisted in all countries.

So that theory of "warez doesn't give $$" is not true, perhaps in some countries is not very good like old time 2008-2012, but you can still doing a good amount of money in Warez Scene.

Perhaps you need to change your strategy and use other countries and languages..

----- NOW let's talk about activity in forum ------

The fault is not the "warez" scene, WJunction is another forum that lost users and activity due to Facebook Groups (I don't like it) but it steal users believe me!

Discord also did steal many users and still stealing from other sides like Skype etc. Even other plataforms are losing to Discord.

Reddit, everyone are switching to Reddit and other plataforms like WhatsApp Groups, Telegram Channel, Messenger Groups, Instagram and many many more.

Is not only WJunction Forum who lost activity, many forums lost users and old users, because they feel they can do that without using the forum, so if you can do it through social media why not?

This is the main and root cause of WJunction, don't worry the fault is not of WJunction but of technology and new Apps offering better and less easily.

Forums of Gaming are losing and being inactive, even WBT and many other lost activity.
 
Wow.. We have come a long way from the days of Rapidshare, Katz, Warez-BB, ForumW, PhazeDDL etc to the current state.

Basically the same as everyone else said, but just to add on, I think it's not only the uploaders and webmasters changing, but the cracking scene has also changed a lot.

Perhaps the encryption methods got stronger, or the groups are just disappearing as well, seeing a lot less genuine cracked stuff compared to before.

Furthermore, I think the majority right now just prefer spending a few bucks on buying the genuine stuff, rather than taking a risk with a suspicious crack/activator.

Similarly the gaming scene has shifted to people opting to purchase games on PSN and Steam, since a lot of games right now are online games etc.

Meanwhile the movie scene, I guess everyone is just okay to spend 10$ on a monthly subscription like Netflix/Amazon and just get almost everything they want to watch.
 
I'm on the same boat as you guys. I keep coming back here every once in a while in the hope of finding what this place used to be earlier. The internet has changed a lot in the last decade, and everything is moving to a more centralized structure. Most interactions these days seem to take place in the few big social media sites or apps. A few old style forums still exist, but they definitely seem on the way out.

If you guys come across a forum or subreddit for webmasters, web developers, graphics artists, let me know.

Good to see some familiar names in this thread, btw. Long time. :)
 
Yeah, I noticed that too. I used to be read-only before and recently decided to signup, but the activity became so low...
 
The webmasters forum also needs management, nothing works the same, I know webmasters forums that have a lot of webmasters and work well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top