Our network started from a small group of people on AOL. On AOL, the environment got really patheric as new people who were stuck up and had no interest in doing anything besides be rude and weird came into our chat room. We then decided to move to IRC because it had more control. The channel we ran, #thezone, moved from network to network, and finally because of beef with various administrators and IRC operators, we opened our own network. We have been in operation for over 10 years. We do things our way, but we won't be the people we hated in the past, so in that aspect, we can be seen as a safe haven for those who need an ir-home. Detailed network information is available at tzirc.com/wikis/thezoneirc_network/default.aspx.