It's been a fun ride, but now it's time to say goodbye.
In 2003, the Zone BBS was created with some very broken code and low expectations. J.J.'s goal was to create a bit of an omage to BBS systems of the 90s with time-wasting games, private mail, and messaging. That last feature, Quicknotes, eecame the most used feature on the website. Chris N, soon came on board as the other admin. Liam among others started sending friends to the site as forums and more games were added, Anagram Mania becoming the most popular.

The Zone rapidly grew in popularity during the next few years and a support team called community leaders was added to give guidance to the users. A big shout out to off of these amazing people, especially KC8PNL who has been with us for the entire ride.

During its heyday, the Zone was a thriving community of thousands of active users. More than two dozen submitted auditions for Zone BBS Icon, a music competition held over several months. Others joined in using Zone BBS by Phone, a system Chris wrote which offered voicemail, live chat, and other features. Couples met, and several got married because of the Zone.

But now it's time to say goodbye. Honestly, this day should have probably come a couple of years ago. Chris and J.J., as well as many of the community leaders, now have full-time careers and many other things going on which makes it much more difficult to update the site. Plus, much of the code, which was written 15 years ago, is outdated and will soon no longer work without a complete rewrite.

So for now, this is goodbye. While we have no idea what the future may hold, the Zone BBS as you know it is gone. If you purchased a premium membership which continues past the official shutdown date, we will be refunding the remainder of your membership.

We'd like to extend our appreciation to everyone who has been involved over the years, whether you were a casual user or with us from the beginning. I'm proud of what we accomplished. Thank you for making the Zone BBS a part of your life.

Hello all,

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for participating in this most interesting website. I like to think that the zone has had a net positive impact on the world over the past 15 years. I enjoyed playing a small part in making this happen and watching the much larger part that you all had to play. It was great to have a cool idea for a feature during a week, implement it over the next weekend, and watching people explore it over the next few days. My favorite section was Zone BBS by Phone, the conferencing/voicemail/audio profiles piece that we had running from 2007 to 2011 or so.

Until the next weekend project,
Chris Nestrud

The Next Chapter

I've been on the zone for a lot of years, and one of its first community leaders. While part of me, the nostalgic part of me is very sad to see it go, I also know that all good things come to an end. I made a lot of friends, had a lot of unique experiences on this site. We had some fantastic times doing stuff like Zone BBS Icon, match game, so many things. Not to mention all of the fun times we spent on Ventrilo back in the early days.

In closing, I would just like to wish you all well, and to offer a special thanks to the Admins and all of the community leaders who came before and after me who helped in the upkeep of this site. You are all awesome!
Cheers to the zone, and see everyone around.
Ather, AKA maddog.

I saw that this place was going down, and wanted to come say my goodbyes. I joined the zone in 2007, and I still have friends who I talk to to this day. It's been a great ride and the boards for me were a great place for me to expand my computer knowledge and meet people. Thanks Jay and Chris for making this great place.

greetings i enjoyed the zone and will hate to see it go but all good things come to an end unfortunately. its been fun knowing you all.

Hi...Or bye, I should say!
According to my profile, I joined the zone on 12th April 2007. Although I wasn't exactly a great forum contributor (in fact I think this is only my second post!), I used to love the game and points systems. Every morning I would wake up and see what the new day's anagrams puzzle was, then start reeling off words as fast as I could. Then I'd always have a good game of High-Low or some of the other word games.
As I grew up and the constantly moving train of life took over, I practically forgot about the Zone. On the odd days I might play an audio game that reminded me of it and so I'd log in for a few more rounds of Anagrams, but other than that, it was just a passing rather than a regular pastime. Of course, they always say you don't know what you lose until it's gone.
While I used the Zone, even though it only be a small portion of the system, I enjoyed every minute of the 212 times I apparently logged in.
I wish all the admins, leaders and developers luck with whatever their lives hold for them next, and may the Zone rest in peace.
All the best,
The guy who changes names like underwear.
Blunderboy (formerly known as Psycheman, DCPendleton, Gardlerton, X, X-Sight Interactive).
Real names: Damien Blunderfield-Garwood/Sykes-Lindley/Sadler/Pendleton.

I am greatly saddened by the ending of The Zone. But as someone else said, all good things must come to an end. I've
thoroughly enjoyed close to 11years here and probably would have been a member when it first started if I had known of its existence. Thank you to all who made this site possible and its variety of games and information listings. It has been fun! All the best to the staff and fellow members.

This is one of those things I saw coming for quite awhile. I didn't really expect it would faze me all that much, given how little I'm here these days.

I was wrong.

That's what happens, though, when you meet two different long-term partners here, one of whom you were engaged to. It's what happens when you spent nights on ZBP back in 2009, in particular, talking to all kinds of people and being much more social. It's what happens when, even after the furor died down, you stuck around, made other friends, hooked up via skype and TT and the RS client to play hilarious games of Cards against Humanity and Uno and all the rest. It's what happens when you became a bit of a fixture on the boards, enough so that you got both a good and a bad reputation depending on who's asked.

It's what happens, in other words, when you're part of a community where you actually mattered a little, and now that community's going to disappear.

It may not have been a large part of my life, especially in the last couple of years, but this is still saddening for me in a way I didn't expect.

I want to thank everyone who was involved in maintaining this site and its members for as long as they did. The work was tireless and very often thankless, but you did it anyway, so thank you for letting the ride last as long as it has.

This is going to be long, and may make some people either laugh, cry, or want to bash their heads against walls. But stick with me. I mean every word.
I attempted to join the zone in June of 2013. I was here for around 24 hours, before someone disabled my account because of something to do with an IP address. But that's ok. I got back on board in November of 2014, and was soon talking to may different types of people, at some really odd times of the day and night.
Because family reasons, I couldn't use a computer to come on here for the first year or so. Instead I came on here with my Braille Sense. I will never forget sneaking onto the Sense at 11 PM on a school night, because I wanted to talk to someone. I will also never forget some of the rants I posted on the boards, and the arguments they started. But that's not important.
What is important is that I met some really good people on here. There were nights I needed a place to turn to, and because of my lack of computer, this was it. Even when it wasn't full of people all trying to squeeze a word in, there was, almost always, someone I could talk to. I will never forget the nights I spent throwing virtual glass globes at people for no good reason. My fifteen-year-old self probably annoyed a few people with the spammy messages, but oh well. To me and at least one other, I know they made fun memories.
It's been a fun ride, and I must admit I am slightly sad to see the site go. It has kinda become a bit of a habit to come on here during the school day when I am bored. Farewell, zone. Rest in peace.

My best friend had joined the zone in early 2005 and couldn't stop talking about
it. Since I didn't have a computer at the time, I begged her to make me an
account. When I went to her house and then when I got a computer with a
screenreader of my own, it was over. I didn't realize how much this place would
impact my life, especially my teenaged years. I spent so many hours here,
chatting, board posting, blowing up graffiti, and having fights with the blackjack
dealer. I made so many wonderful long lasting connections and got myself into
plenty trouble and had so much fun. I came on from class, the bus when I got my
first smart phone, and of course, spent too many nights either here or on the TT
server. I took a hiatus for most of college but came back in 2012 when Aaron had
passed, and boom!!! It became a part of my life again, introducing me to even
more friends that I hadn't interacted with before. So many people made this place
special for me, and I wish I had the words to say how much the zone truly meant
to me. I'd love to recount all the memories in this post, but we'd be here all day
and the sight may shut down by then. Though I've moved across the country, and
though this sight is also moving on, I will always have a special place in my heart
for it and anyone I've met here. Thanks to the community leaders, and of course
Chris and JJ, for keeping this place afloat, and doing so much for so many. I know
this was a lot of people's place to escape reality for a while, and it brought so
many memories for all uff us. Cheers to the zone, one of a kind.

It's hard to believe this place is going to be going away very soon. I feel like I've been around for mostly everything, even though I became a member in 2004 thanks to Jennie. I started here back in the old days of dile up internet, demos of both jaws and window eyes, someone who didn't know hardly anything about computers, didn't have really much of a social life outside of where I lived, who was dealing with a lot of other crap that I wont go into here, this place was my escape from reality. I've been here through the zones ups and downs. I have to say, if it hadn't have been for the zone, I don't think I would have ever gottn back into contact with a friend of mine from school that at the time, was 8 years since I had last seen him. I have made many friends here, have dated a few people from here through the years, when most people left here for one reason or another, I stayed behind. Yes I had a feeling sooner or later something like this was going to happen, and I said I would be here until the end. I would come on here when I was in school, and even at the center for the blind I attended, and when I wasn't able to get online, thankfully at that time at least in 07 and 08, zbp was here. Thanks for the good memories I will take with me forever. If you ever see zackmack2000 around anywhere, that's me. Take care

May the zone Rest In Peace. I joined back in 2005, and for many years it was a great
place to come and meet new people. I've met several wonderful people I will never forget.
It was a fun time while it lasted. Farewell old friend. You will be missed.

This is going to make me cry. I’ve met some pretty amazing people here, people I still talk
to up to this day. If you guys want, feel free to follow me on twitter at @christopher2236,
send me an iMessage at chris.omeally@gmail.com, or find me on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrViolinist101. I’ll really miss this place, but all must
come to an end. I’ll keep an eye on the zones twitter too. Until next time guys.

I'm going to miss this place. And I'm going to miss it a lot. I do get that the code will no longer work at some point, but I'm just crazy enough that I would've bought the thing just because I would've wanted to preserve it in any way possible. It's that important to me. From a user experience, it was, truly, the greatest browser-based program I've ever used. The community had its ups and downs, but I would always defend it to the hilt, even when it was considered uncool to do so. I met so many wonderful and not so wonderful people...Yeah, I go now, I can't come up with words.

Nick

I haven't been out here in so long. This is where it all started for me. I can't tell you how much time I wasted on zone by phone with Chris N, Pipi Shea and others. This place will always hold a special place in my heart. I've met friends off of here that I still call friends today. I stopped coming out here years ago, but I never forgot how it all got started for me. So long Zone.

this site will be missed.

when I joined in july of last year I had no idea of it's use.

that is to say I had no idea this site was for blind users.

the first person I spoke to on here was impricator, who convinced me to stick around- and so I did, and had lots of fun with anagrams, posting on the boards, and with the quiz system.

in no time at all, it became my escape from work. I'd come home, and come straight on here to chat to people, or just to go invisible and play anagrams sometimes

my 2 best friends (broadway lover/ batman 413) were made on this site, and I know long after the site's gone, we'll keep in contact

I don't know who it was, but someone convinced me to try rsgames, which I loved- and from their I also found the playroom.

I am going to miss this site, a lot

um.

I mean july of 2016

Quitting the Zonebbs coldturkey will be tough, someone hand me some methadone, or methazone.

R.I.P. the Zone.

Now tossing a shovelful of dirt into your grave.

With deepest sympathy--

all joking aside, I’d like to thank the admins and CLs for their work all these years. Thanks as well to the secret philanthropists who made me premium twice – your charity is not forgotten.

I’ve been here since 2006 when I first stumbled upon this site in a Google search. I done seen different types of dudettes and dudes enter and exit the scene, witnessed events unfold, learned a thing or two about blindness, and now the end has finally arrived.

This site’s evolved for me over the years, from serving as a virtual getaway, a periodic war zone/school playground, to an armchair anthropologist’s lab, a crime scene, and so on.

Anagram speed was a cool challenging feature I enjoyed. I can say the same about the public quicknote quizzes. But I benifited most from reading some old board posts by people who’d been living with blindness longer than me.

Near the end this place became more of a public square where I could people-watch while working, studying and doing other things.

To close, I’d like to say thanks to everyone for the friendly and not so friendly entertainment. I might’ve been offensive at times, but I believe we all did it in fun and out of boredom. It’s been interesting.

Farewell.

Thank you to all of the people who have made this place something worth returning to for one final time! It's something I have done and been a part of since 2003. That said, there are times when chapters in your life need to close for various reasons. In its current state, without developers with either the time or resources to maintain it, this is probably the best way to do it. Thank you again for everything, and I am sure I will see most of you around in other places on the web!

kc8pnl@gmail.com

I learned a lot here about computers and found out some daily living tips. Enjoyed the games very much. Goodbye and best to all. From Bea

Hi.
I joined the zone bbs in July of 2005, and I learned so many things especially at the
early days.
Mostly I learned about audio games and pigeon pannick was the first game I ever
tried.
I enjoyed uploading and listening to other audio profiles, reading and writing at the
boards and playing some of the games.
I met some people here. I could probably meet more but I was and still I am a bit
shy so I blaim myself for it.
It is sad to see the zone bbs to go, but the last few years it was so obvious that this
day would come eventually.
Bye all and thanks a lot
Feel free to follow @nikosdemetriou if you wish.
Nikos

I just heard the news about the Zone closing, and had to come out here
one last time to pay my respects.

I joined this site way back in 2004, back when I was a naive 15 year old.
Back in those days, there were a lot of cool people around.

I mostly stuck to posting on the boards in the years that followed, and
while I sometimes made myself unpopular, and rightfully so looking back on
it, I also learned quite a bit about life, not that I ever would have admitted
it back then.

I enjoyed playing Anagrams, High Low, and Blackjack. While many other
audio games are better, these were some of the first audio games I got
into. In fact, the games were the reason I signed up in the first place. I
had seen a listing for it on the Whitestick website, or it may have been
PCS Games. I honestly don't remember.

In any case, while I haven't been active on here for several years, since I
prefer other forums these days, this news made me quite nostalgic, and I'll
definitely think of it from time to time going forward.

I haven’t logged on a lot here in the past several years, but I remember fondly coming on
here a lot back in college & off & on for a while after to chat, check boards, & play games.
I also enjoyed the NFL pools when I remembered to do them lol. I joined back in 2007
thanks to friends that couldn’t stop talking about it. I’ve enjoyed talking with old friends,
meeting new ones, & reconnecting with a few. I knew this might happen eventually. Rest
In Peace zone, & good luck to you all in the future, & thanks to those that have
maintained it all these years .

I will definitely miss playing all the anagram games. They were challenging, enriching, and even therapeutic after a long day at work. I also like Black Jack, Hangman, and sometimes played the sports pools. If anyone knows of an alternative accessible anagram site, plz let me know. Going forward it won't be the same without The Zone. But again, all the best to the staff who kept this up and running all these years. Really appreciate it and all your time put into it.

Wow. I cannot believe that within a few short hours, this site will be gone.
Y'all were here for me when i was a year fresh out of high school. When I was
bored, i would come on here to play games, waste times on the boards, or
exchange quick notes. This site was also here for me as I got married, went
through my first anniversary and my eye surgery. Sadly, life got in the way
when my son was born, so I could no longer come here as I had to devote all
of my attention to him. I now have 2 children and am divorced . It has been
a great 14 years on this site. With love,
From Paula, my true self..

man I remember a lot of good times on here, and some bad ones, but they were mostly good. RIP zone.

Wow, to see this go is to see all my good memories of blind friends go... I joined probably around 2014 or so wanting to make friends. Not only did I make friends, I also got to talk to a few of them on facetime, teamtalk, you name it. I, like Mikaela snuck my borrowqed laptop out and was on here at around 12 pl.m because I had no life. to see this go though... bye bye Zone.

Hopefully the subreddit for the zonebbs will take off. http://www.reddit.com/r/zonebbs

I hope so. i hate to see this place go.

It's Dan (as most of you knew me as on here,) Danny, or DJDan AKA the fan of
South Park, fan of South Park in 2006, an Opie and Anthony fan so much that I
changed the name, to the final DJDan567 which would be my current e-mail and
former Twitter handle at the time). Screaming turtle, formally known as Niblet17
was the first person who introduced this site to me that would be the virtual
jumper cables to get my online presence started. I built an online identity all
because of this site. I met the girl I'd be losing my virginity too, learned an
enormous amount of computers and screenreaders, have friends I still closely
connect with today and have lifetime partnerships that go beyond a bulletin board
system for the blind. The Zone was not just a place to start drama for me, it, like
anything else, was a place where you got out what you wanted it to be. Kind of
like high school or professional situations you might find yourself in. The zone was
like a virtual camp. I went to a camp in New Jersey at 6 years old and went till I
was 15. I signed up to the zone when I was 12 and at that time you could be any
age to be a member on the site. When they had registered it as a company or
something that dealt with law, you had to be thirteen. That specific update came
three months after I was on the Zone as a 12 year old already, so I lied about my
age till I was 18 to many blind people online. Like a dumby, even though I
purposefully showed my month and day and not the year, I was still lying about it
thinking it would get back to the Admins. That's why people I've known for years
are figuring out today that I'm a year younger than what I said I was.

I want to thank J, Chris and the rest of the past and current community leaders
who spent their time keeping this site up and running. You are responsible for
friendships, partnerships and relationships that have manifested and will be
turning into life-long connections for an extensive community. I'm shocked that it
ran as long as it did, had various phases of communication and heightened
periods. (Ventrilo, Teamtalk, ZBP, etc) I was young, but I got to experience the
Zone in it's hay day when the publics were on fire. People were getting banned
left and right and some of the best fights would go down. From the board topics
(including one of mine where I thought it was okay to post the whole Wikipedia
page of Opie and Anthony), Graffiti, Anagrams, hi-low with me thinking it was
rigged, Blackjack sharpening skills and more were the highlight of this place.
Audio profiles I consistently checked, waiting to have puke come up or try to get
to know that person and make a friend. When people would post events cause
there were hosting conference lines and the whole Zone would come out to play
way before ZBP.
With everyone I've had some type of interaction here with on the Zone, if I didn't
love you, if we didn't get along, if we didn't mesh within each other's social
circles, I still thank you for the experience the ZoneBBS has had on my life and
the lives of many I interact with today. IT was because of you that we had a place
filled with fun, laughter, games, connections, drama and most of all, memories for
a life time. Rest in peace to all the Zoners who have passed from my personal
friend Aaron, CL Doug, Tunehead, Blackbird Kev, etc. That's how you are able to
successfully measure the impact of a commmunity. When people pass and we all
mourn in one way or another. Thank you again!


You will be missed, Zone. please tweet me
here
and e-maile me
here. Stay in touch. Lets keep the
Zone legacy alive.

in the words of a fanfiction auther, so long and thanks for all the fish. I've got good memories and bad memories. anyone wants to look me up on twitter it's lunar_fang
I don't bite. much.

I used to log in here a lot when I could've been studying, but don't tell my
former teachers. I joined before Twitter gave us less characters than the zone
boards. It's been fun.

Click here to follow my personal account.

Click here to follow my artist account.

Post 30 somed this place up rather nicely, so I won't say much.

I was never good with long posts.

It's going to be sad to see this place go.

I met a lot of my online friends on this site, some I still keep in touch with, while
others, I see on other online comunities.

Thank you for the memories ZoneBBS.

No one really knows what the future holds, perhaps I will come accross some of you
on other comunities, perhaps on social media.

This site, for me at least will be remembered as what introduced me to chatting to
other blind people from all over the world.

It's been fun.

Well, I honestly don't know what to say.

I had written a nice post comparing the ending of the Zone bbs to the final episode of the Quiet, Please radio series, only to have the site error out on me when I went to post it.

I can remember being a Teenager back in 2004 when I first signed up here and didn't know much about tons of things, some of which may or may not have included how to behave maturely online, but that's neither here nor there.

It's been quite a while since I've really put my thoughts to paper or keyboard, as the case may be, but of all of the places I've seen go, I never would have expected this. I won't forget the site, and I certainly won't forget the many friends that I've met through the years on here.

I'm reminded of the final words from the final episode of Quiet, Please, written and directed by Wylis Cooper and featuring Earnest Chappel. I won't post the entire episode here, for there's not enough time for that, but all I will say is this. For an episode telling a story of how a group of Martians end up destroying themselves, it has some truly fitting final lines.

"This, is the end of a world, and a people, that you may have mistaken for your very selves. Honor us at last with your silence at the end.

And pray, friends of Earth. Pray, not for us, for that is too late.

Pray for yourselves.

Quiet, please."

It seems only fitting that those words should be my final OTR words to grace this site, especially since one of my first posts on the boards was also Quiet, Please related, as well. It also seems fitting that I'm posting this from an xp machine running Internet Explorer, of all things. So what if it's a virtual machine, but the point is, everything's kinda come full circle, in a way.

To all of the admins and Cl's, thanks for your hard work and for keeping the site up for as long as you have.

To all of the friends on here who I've met, thank you for being my friends.

And finally, to those who are no longer with us, it is you who we are all thinking of tonight. Thanks for living good lives and for making this small part of the world a better place.

I am, to paraphrase Earnest Chappel, "for the last time, Quietly yours".

sincerely,
Src333 AKA The Crashing machine AKA Shaun C

It's a little bitter sweet to see the Zone go away for good. I've met some pretty awesome people on here and have made great on going friendships. I was a senior in high school when I first joined back in 2005 and didn't think I'd spend so much time on here between then and now. Its been a great ride indeed. I will miss this place for sure.
For anyone who'd like to keep in touch, I have joined the official Facebook group that J has created, or feel free to follow me on Twitter, @ymgtx.

Best of luck to everyone on your future endeavors. Please stay in touch with me.

I haven't come around much the past few years, though I've been on the site
on and off for almost ten and have a host of interesting memories. For
anyone who wishes, you can reach me over on Twitter @robbiec54321
Goodbye everyone; it's been fun.

I met a few good friends on here, but especially my best friend and now he's gone and this is going too. Crying face.

Thanks to everyone for education and entertainment and definitely the anagrams, they became a nice way to de-stress over the past couple of years.
"Good morning, and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight."
Hopefully, one of the new sites will prove successful.

I can remember way back when I joined in 2003, there would be times when there were only 4 people logged in. I've met some really awesome people on here and even though I sort of walked away for a while, I'm greateful to have been a part of this. It's been real, folks.
Take care.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said. It’s been a fun ride here. This place
definitely played an important role while growing up. Zone was my first introduction to
the online blind community. I used to spend hours upon hours, days even just talking with
people and reading/posting on the boards. I’ve learned a lot of life lessons, procrastinated
a lot, met some awesome lifelong friends and made some memories both good and bad.

well all, I've been on here since 2004. It's been a fun ride being on here. I was not on here much until now. I hope everyone does enjoy they're time on here tonight and hope to keep in touch with all o fyou, or most of you. If anyone wants to contact me my email address for facebook is oliver.doug1@gmail.com. I will see a lot of you in the factbook group. Take care all. may the zone rest in piece.

looking through zone in the last 14/15 years is like looking through some old photos collections and saving some new memories so that it will be save in the memory bank forever. Zone has accompany me through some dark time. from moving alone from one country to another, staying up late for assignments, heart break, love, happiness, tears and everything else in between. it act as a first contact for me with the world beyond my little corner, and making friends from all over the world. i fall in and out of love on zone with several zoners, i've met most of Australian zoners in 2010/2011, and more connections, and friendships. as much as this is the end of zone, but it is a begining of another chapter. lets keep in touch, lets laugh, cry, and celebrate the glory of zone and more importantly, the journey that we all take part together.
special thanks to Stinky Scotty, Bradvert, and so many more for being there for me, with me during those days. friendship is something that will never go away, as long as both parties are willing to working on it.

I will miss the Zone and the people with whom I cannot stay in touch. I loved Flopeared Monster, and Velvet Blue and was sorry to lose them. Thank you for the site. It meant more to more people than I think you can understand.

I posted a lengthy good-bye last night, but might as well pop in here too. The Zone was
my first true taste of online community, of how people from across the globe could
somehow come to love and care about each other across miles, languages, and every
other barrier there is. Despite all the drama, that sense of belonging is what I’ll truly take
away from my time here. This isn’t good-bye, I’m sure I’ll run into several of you online
one of these days. So, Zone, Zoners, until we meet again ...