As one of the oldest torrent communities, Demonoid has gone through many ups and downs over the years.
The site regularly disappeared, only to resurface later, which gave it the reputation of a comeback-kid.
However, last summer things changed when Deimos, the site’s founder, went missing. After months of uncertainty and downtime, it became clear that the site wasn’t coming back this time. Deimos is believed to have passed away in a tragic accident, marking the end of an era.
Many staffers were devastated when they heard the news but they were also motivated to keep the Demonoid spirit alive. To honor Deimos, first and foremost, and to create a place where former users of the site could continue to interact.
Initially, they started a forum at Demonoid.info and, as time went by, more and more Demonoid users found their way back. However, there was something missing. The new home didn’t allow people to do what they do best – sharing files.
This motivated a group of staffers to create a new “Demonoid” torrent site. Not to replace the old one, but to have a familiar torrent site again that looks and feels like their old home. With help from old crew members who offered servers, coding skills, and graphic design, Dnoid.to was born.
“Demonoid has a really massive user base, many of them are fans just like me, and just seeing the look of Demonoid feels like a ‘home’ to thousands,” Demonoid staffer ‘phaze1G’ tells TorrentFreak, commenting on the new site.
While Dnoid.to looks identical to the old Demonoid, it’s completely different under the hood. It’s built on a new database which means that users have to sign up for a new account. In addition, the new site doesn’t operate a tracker either.
Dnoid.to doesn’t aim to be a replacement of the original site. It’s basically just a magnet index with a Demonoid skin that allows users to add new links. There are no torrents hosted on the site itself.
For the time being anyone can join the site, as registrations are open (update: closed now). However, these may close in the future, to keep spammers and other types of abuse at bay.
The purpose of the new site isn’t to become the next big torrent site. It’s to honor Demonoid’s legacy and also in part to keep scammy sites from taking over the brand.
“The point is not to compete with the original Demonoid or to be above other public torrents sites. It’s just to keep a memory of Demonoid and its founder Deimos, who is well-known around old folks and who set really high standards for torrent communities ever since 2003,” phaze1G says.
“Demonoid always had a special spot in people’s hearts. Keeping a memento of it without letting others ruin it by making copycats and phishing sites from it is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to him and keeping his legacy alive.”
