Due to the increasing and very justified questions about the 1.9 upgrade process, a possible deletion of the darklands and a possible temporary server, I thought it’s the best to stop the “wait and see” process due to the uncertainties of the ability to upgrade quickly to 1.9 and just make some decisions and then just stick with them no matter what. So here they are:

• When 1.9 comes out, I will do my best to setup a 1.9 temporary server on an alternative port as soon as possible. I am on a trip right now, so give me some hours time, but I will do my best.
• The temporary server normal world (i.e. without nether and end) will become eventually the new darklands of the normal server.
• The temporary server will be whitelisted and only accesible to whoever is whitelisted at the time we open it. I will not let in anyone who joined the server after that.
• The temp server will stay in place at least until the 14th of March. Some day after that, depending on our ability to upgrade fully and on the time I have to do it, we will shut it down and the darklands in the normal server will be replaced by the normal world of the temp server. I will try to announce the date, but for now assume it will be the 14th.
• I might be using the temp. server as a testing ground for the 1..9 upgrade, but this should not affect gameplay too much except for some occasional irregular restarts.

Therefore:

• You can start taking down whatever you built in the darklands from now on. This is not a permission to grief other people’s stuff. If something is part of a community build, the best course of action will be to dismantle it and store it until we upgrade the server, then providing it in chests for other community builds in the new darklands after we upgrade.
• We will not, under any circumstances, leave the temp server running after the upgrade. I will consider a ban for anyone who even asks for it after the upgrade. I know temp servers are fun, but if you want a vanilla no-rules, no-lots, griefer-filled server, please host it yourself.