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Zangief
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« on: January 13, 2009, 05:00:03 AM » |
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On Sunday, January 4, 2009, Ning shut down Zangief Zone along with all the other so-called "adult" sites that they said they could no longer support. Although Zangief Zone was never an adult site per se, we found ourselves falling into that category anyway because of our pledge of non-censorship and the fact that, since it focused on a nude bear model and a half naked Russian wrestler who seems just as comfortable out of his little red brief (E. Honda could tell you about that) in addition to a pro drummer and rock performer, we were, by virtue of that, a clothing optional environment. Knowing that we were playing host to a really mixed crowd, I made certain that even Drummer Bear and/or Zangief images, whenever nude, remained in the realm of that which I would call "tasteful". I also encouraged all of our members to use the same sort of discretion with that in mind and simply trust their judgment on an honor system. It was a great social experiment and was well received without any problems and with nothing but positive feedback. Some of the artwork, photography, poetry, music and other talent provided by our diverse membership was truly awesome and surpassed all of my expectations for the Zone.
However, Ning did what it had to do and this is the sad reality. Fortunately, Zangief Zone was such a success, thanks to the wonderful community of members of whom it was comprised, that, just as Bear Zone (another Ning site) has done, we will soon launch another Zangief Zone, this time, like Drummer Bear and Mike Fass.com, on our own platform and with our own servers. It will take some planning to make it as easily interactive and with as many user-friendly features as those which Ning provided but we're gonna do it.
Meanwhile I want to thank everybody who joined Zangief Zone the first time and I heartily invite you to return when we do. I know that many of you have promised to be there again and it's going to be great to have you back! I just as warmly welcome all new members, too, when the time comes, and look forward to rebuilding our fun social playground.
I'll let you all know as soon as we're back and, until then, I send all my thanks, love and appreciation to you for being so supportive and so wonderful!
Zangief, Drummer Bear and I are a lucky bunch o' bears!
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