#gardenofshadows

**I am editing this post based on feedback in the comments.**

I would still like everybody to stop, pause, make some really tight fists with their hands, now shake them out, and do some deep breathing.

I would still like to ask people to sloooow down. The internet moves fast but sometimes, life moves more slowly.

There are still efforts going on behind the scenes to get GOS back online (and Sims 2 Artists).

New hosting has been secured. The website php needs upgrading and this has not been working, but people are working on it.

I know its hard when things happen and you don't know what's going on.

Instead of panicking, jumping to conclusions, making angry posts, it's time to offer support, be patient, wait, ask what's happening without getting mad.

And please, remember kindness and empathy. Lunie has been trying to update GOS for months, and she is exhausted. It's down right now, but not dead (yet).

I do not deny this situation has been handled badly. I do not condone hateful or aggressive language FROM anyone directed TO anyone.

The latest update I have is that the site PHP is ancient, and it will be extremely difficult to update it so that the site can be rehosted, but people are trying.

I'm even probably roping in my IT dude husband who does web hosting and deals with this sort of thing, but who is not a simmer and has no idea what GOS really is.

I will try to actively post more updates as I receive them so that communication can be clear and we can all know what's going on.

Cheers,

I am not usually someone who gets involved in Sims community discourse or public callout-style posts, but this genuinely breaks my heart to see.

A massive amount of the custom content, creativity, and inspiration behind my work on Vermillion Sins came from communities like Garden of Shadows and Sims2Artists. They were huge pillars of the Sims 2 creative space for years.

What hurts most is not even just the shutdown itself. It’s the lack of warning.

These sites were not just forums anymore. They had become archives of nearly two decades of community history: old creators, inactive creators, forum attachments, resources, tutorials, contests, shared knowledge, and years of creativity that helped shape this community into what it became.

A simple “hey, this may go offline permanently soon, please archive what you can” would have allowed people time to preserve pieces of Sims 2 history before they vanished. Instead, so much appears to have disappeared overnight.

And to be clear, I do not think anyone is owed endless unpaid labor or permanent site maintenance. If someone no longer has the time, energy, money, or interest to continue running something, that is completely understandable.

But I do think the community should have at least been given the chance to help. People absolutely would have pitched in through backups, mirrors, technical help, donations, archival efforts, or simply having enough warning to preserve pieces of history before they disappeared.

The Sims 2 community has survived because people cared enough to preserve things. Without archivists, backups, mirrors, and Wayback captures, huge parts of this game’s creative history would already be gone forever.

And honestly, I hope this becomes a wake-up call moving forward. Preservation should matter.

TOUs and repost policies should not become barriers that result in entire pieces of community history disappearing forever the moment a creator or site owner leaves, especially in a community where everything is interconnected.

I respect active creators wanting credit and boundaries. But abandoned content should not be treated like untouchable lost media while the community watches it disappear forever. Communities preserving older Sims games and their content are a huge part of why those games remained alive and accessible long after EA itself had largely moved on from supporting them, and likely played a significant role in renewed interest surrounding things like the Sims 2 Legacy release.

I've made a few posts about the situation over the past few days, and while I remain critical of the handling of the situation, specifically the lack of transparent communication and have vented my frustrations about that, and about the perceived tone + apathy from HL's responses (or lack thereof) I can also acknowledge that just venting frustrations isn't going to help the situation. And I can also empathize with the fact that the sites' issues have probably been very frustrating for HL. I can understand the desire to just hole away and avoid messages (I think everyone's been there at one point or another). I don't think that's the right way to handle this situation, but I can empathize to an extent. And I know responding with sarcasm and anger and apathy can be a shield when one is already feeling frustrated and worn thin. It's still IMO an unfair way to respond to the community at large who really just wanted to understand what was happening before the hurt and anger took over, but anyway. I get it.

Now, we know things are happening behind the scenes thanks to @teaaddictyt's post. I am linking to the updated post. The post received some mixed reactions due to the initial tone but I appreciated the status update nonetheless. At least we know something now!

Another thing I've been thinking about is: the future of GoS and forums in general.

It seems like part of the initial decision to take down the site when the update failed was due to inactivity / lack of interest and participation. I can't seem to find it now (I've been reading through lots of posts about the situation these past days) but I saw in a reply under some post that apparently HL mentioned something about inactivity being a factor in a discord message.

Nowadays, a lot of us are on the aforementioned discord or here on tumblr or reddit and those older sites like GoS / s2a have become more archive than active. If we want to keep old sites like that alive and around we do have to participate more on them.

IF/When the sites come back I think showing them a little love will go a long way.

Additionally, I think stuff like the GoS monthly events and challenges may need a structural refresh. Events are fun ways to engage the community, but I think, like the site itself, we've all gotten older and likely have less free time to be churning out content for new events every month. As someone who has tried organizing monthly events for another fandom, it can definitely feel frustrating and disheartening when very few people end up participating. You feel like, what's the point! And often times there'd be a lot of interest in the event but then little participation. And sometimes that's down to time, or lack thereof.

So maybe we could introduce some variety. Longer timeframes. Maybe a new theme every other month. Maybe also do some seasonal events. So like a summer-wide event. Fall. Winter. Spring. Some longform or ongoing challenges to really give people ample time to participate. I know I personally suck at deadlines unless I know far in advanced and can plan accordingly, which often means I don't end up participating in things, even if I really wanted to. Another idea is to make a list at the start of the year with all the upcoming Event Themes. Just so people can start getting an idea for things they may want to make throughout the year!

Hello yolkema! I was just about to make a post about this, hope you don't mind me using your ask :-)

I'm aware of the GOS/S2A situation and I've been lurking. I wanted to see how it all turned out before making a post about it. @teaaddictyt shared an update where she explained that GOS/S2A aren't dead just yet, people are working on getting it up again. I've also reached out to @liquidsims if this is something they would perhaps be able to "mirror" like the old ts2 sites they have done before (if all else fails).

In the meantime, @simnostalgia scraped GOS back in 2023 and you can find it here. I also found this sfs link on reddit. There's also the mediafryer archive. For links, you can plop them into wayback, a lot of links has been saved but not all ofc. I've already stumbled upon some links not archived. To answer your question, yes, feel free to share the links you find!

I've seen people post some links etc already, and I will probably reblog those, and until GOS/S2A are up and running again, I will reply to asks looking for GOS/S2A content. But pleeeease include links* if you have them! Even if wayback hasn't archived it. And if the creator is still active, reach out to them first.

*It makes it so much easier for me, it's already hard enough as it is with Google's fucking (sorry) AI shit. If anyone has any recommendations for working image-search and search engines, please enlighten me.

A Garden of Shadows 3t2 airstrip conversion plus smaller version by Treehawk. Now in HD!

Turns out Treehawk on Gardenofshadows uploaded the same hood deco airstrip I was working on not even a couple months before I uploaded mine, plus with a smaller version and both in HD texture.

Also the mesh is lowered to allow hood deco planes to be placed on these without clipping. These versions are done much better imho, and I could take a few pointers.

Download Treehawk's 3t2 Airstrip

More info and download in my post on GOS for new Monthly Theme

I hope You like them!!

Сегодня gardenofshadows не рад меня видеть.

Какой спам ? Просто ищу контент, даже не пишу на форуме .Что происходит?

gardenofshadows is not happy to see me today.

What kind of spam? I'm just looking for content, I'm not even writing on the forum.What's happening?