On top of honoring our troops this Memorial Day, let’s also take a moment to remember some of the former Degrassi fansites that have made the online community what is today.
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BOYCOTT THE CAF
It’s with great sadness that I announce Boycott The Caf is no longer going to be reviewing Degrassi reguarly:
“What once was a hobby has become a chore. With this in mind, we hope our readers understand why, with a heavy heart and lots of farts, we have decided to end our coverage of Degrassi. We will not review season 11. Even if we had the energy to keep up with season 11, we feel that we’ve gone as far as we can possibly go in writing about this show. There is nothing new we can really add to our commentary. After 200+ episodes it’s long past time for us to stop.”
I don’t blame them. Writing episode reviews on a regular basis is hard. People ask me all the time if I’m going to review episodes from the earlier seasons. No, I’m not. If I had all the time in the world I would. But it’s hard to understand how long it takes to write in 600+ words specifically why you liked or disliked an episode until you do it. These guys did it for years. They were around when I first started watching Degrassi in 2004, and they were hilarious every step of the way. R.I.P., Boycott The Caf.
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Degrassi-TNG.com
Back way before the days where you could create a Degrassi site and call yourself a blogger all with two mouse clicks, you had to actually know html/css to create a Degrassi site worth visiting (The only current fansite that is an actual website and not a blog is Degrassi-Fans). At one point Degrassi-Tng.com was the biggest, given that there were a ton of sites that had the exact same look. A girl named Ashley ran Degrassi-TNG as well as Degrassi-Media, the largest Degrassi photo gallery in existence at the time.
Then one day, Degrassi-TNG was down. Days passed. Then weeks, then months. The main page said:
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COME BACK ON AUGUST 2ND FOR THE REVAMPED DEGRASSI-TNG.COM!
(we’re busy burying our heads in breaking dawn – the twilight sequel!)
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Months later it was obvious Ashley was too busy to continue the site. And years later when I realized what Breaking Dawn was, I just shook my damn head. R.I.P.
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Degrassi-Boards.com
Because I was a TV.com boards guy for years, Degrassi-Boards was our natural enemy. The management behaved ridiculous at times and there were message boards inside of message boards. It was too much. Why in the hell is there a board dedicated to poetry?
However, it was a MASSIVE site, and the place many Degrassi fans went to discuss the show. Back then I couldn’t tell you how many people had tried to create their own message board, only for it to have a handful of members and a sad number of threads. Degrassi-Boards was successful, until it randomly crashed or something. This is all that’s left (nothing happens, even if you try to login). The entire database just…disappeared. R.I.P.
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Degrassi: The Next Generation Hangout
Did you know DegrassiBlog almost never existed? It wouldn’t have, had I been successful in my bid to own DTNGHO.
I can’t tell you how crucial Degrassi The Next Generation Hangout was to the online Degrassi community. Remember the days when Degrassi episodes would air in Canada long before they aired here in the U.S.? DTNGHO (which started off as a Yahoo group) made the episodes available to American fans via Soulseek (if you know what that is, you are instantly an amazing human being). They were the reason people knew the episode Accidents Will Happen existed, and they are the reason I was able to become addicted to the show.
In 2008, the original creators announced that they were retiring from the site. At the time I had just created DegrassiBlog (it was called DegrassiTV at first). Upon hearing the news I tried to buy the DTNGHO domain, but someone beat me to it. They transformed the site into a news center/message board, which is now completely abandoned. R.I.P.
A random thought is that all Degrassi fansites have two things in common: 1) Their creators love Degrassi, and 2) All fansites will eventually die. Heck, I abandoned Degrassiblog for an entire year (”08 – ’09) before taking it seriously. It kinda makes me sad knowing that a decade from now this site may be a distant memory to all of us.
Kary's Degrassi Blog 
DTNGHO used to be my jam. I totally posted there. And until now, I had completely forgotten about SoulSeek. Oh, how I am glad we don’t have to deal with those shenanigans anymore.
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AHHH RIP! I remember visiting all of these sites, especially DTNGHO! I definitely would not have known what AWH was. But I’m glad we still have your blog Kary.
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True story here as well. I definitely remember sitting in my high school calculus class years ago trying to persuade a classmate that the episode really did exist and that I had seen it.
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I totally remember all these degrassi sites. Makes me feel so old now lol..now theirs only so many sites to check for degrassi.I didnt think many people knew of these sites…Its funny cause i just made a post saying the other day that i feel like im not as close to degrassi as i used to be..I dont think i will buy the season dvd’s anymore. I just dont have the time to go back and watch them that much anymore.everything is so different now..although i still go to:
Tv.com
degrassi-fans.com
degrassi spoilers and speculation
(hey kary, will you still be buying the degrassi dvd’s? I feel like my generation is falling out with the show. I will still watch but no be as invested into it.)
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O_O I had no idea Degrassi-Boards shut down… From the looks of their “page”, the site was attacked by a virus of some sort. It sucks… The only sites left is this awesomeness, Degrassi Nation: who’s owner doesn’t do much but post links. Other than his annual award show, I really don’t see why Greg has a blog in my humble opinion. Degrassi-Fans: Just as awesomeness as this site. It’s a Canadian version of your blog, so I don’t feel the need to go there. As much as I love Hersch, Degrassi Society is a Degrassi Blog rip-off. Oh and let’s not forget: Kaylynn Kenver’s CheerGirl Blog! Tsk tsk. That girl is all kinds of bitch. Even lied about her age to make herself ‘blend in with the target audience’
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I truly mourn Boycott the Caf. Best ever.
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Btc began losing it during season 9, so I say good riddance. Who wants to read reviews when the reviewers don’t care?
Degrassi boards was so retarded. Emma Nelson was always modding stupid stuff, she was the worst.
What’s the Kaitlyn cheergirl thing?
I wanna know!
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I remember clearly the days of DTNGHO. I miss all the old characters like MarkyMark, IHEARTMARCO. I was releived to find your site via myspace. Kary your actully the reason I felt ok admitting at my advanced age of 25( lol) its still ok to absolutely love this show. What can I say, at this point im completely invested in it. so RIP to the late grate fansites and long live Degrassi Blog!
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excuse the typos, its early and I worked overnight so the brain is a little foggy right now.
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Aww DTNGHO. I used to download episodes and watch them for the summer.
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I remember all of this! Omigod! I remember using soulseek and those awful chatrooms. No one ever wanted to talk about Degrassi on them. But…if it wasn’t for Soulseek…I wouldn’t have been able to watch the 80’s series.
BTC was funny (I probably visited the site maybe once every 2 months…) but towards the end it seemed like they really hated Degrassi. So…i guess its nice that they’re letting it go.
Memories!
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Degrassi-TNG.com was a fun part of my life for a while but we all kinda moved on for a while. Ash(owner) moved on completely and now Ashley(co-web) is back with degrassi-junkie.net Much of the info is off dtng.com Their gallery is pretty big since Ashley is the one that ran it before and is again.
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Dammit! BtC was the best ever! It almost makes me want to make my own snarky Degrassi site…I mean I would snark on other things too, but def Degrassi. I kinda tried, but yeah the older episodes are tedious work (meaning to go from season one to ten) so I’d probably just do season 11. Why? Because I feel the need to make fun of Degrassi and make lame jokes about Spinner and Craig whom are long gone.
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Degrassiboards was awful. BtC was funny as hell up till about season 9.
I’m a TV.com vet. Its how I found out about this site actually, because I was right there posting with Kary lol
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Kary plz never stop degrassi blog!!!! It’s the only degrassi site I go 2 (besides wiki but I don’t even comment on wiki) I really do appreciate u trying to keep up with episode reviews!!! Thank u so much U ROCK!! I can only imagine how hard it is to keep up with this site. it must get boring to u at times.
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I never went to any of these sites. One day, I believe it was like at the end of season 9, I was looking up spoilers on google for degrassi and stumbled upon this site. I didn’t comment I just read like 1 post on here. Then when the boiling point started getting advertised I HAD to get as much information as possible. I remembered this site so I came back and read more including the comments this time. I REALLY wanted to state my opinion on everything so I commented and then it just became a regular thing. I wasn’t as obsessed with degrassi like I’m am now really until season 10. So yea I guess I’m pretty new to the whole thing. I enjoy this site. I love giving my opinions and predictions as well as reading others :)
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Much Music released (apparently 6?) photos from season 11. I have only season 2 but idk where on the website to go to see them. One of them is Holly J and Fiona where Holly J is wearing her graduation gown and one is of Dave and Adam looking pissed and being separated by Mr. Simpson
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I saw those on the Degrassi wiki page.
Looks like there may be some truth to Fiona not graduating? But IDK.
And I wonder what Dave and Adam might be fighting about.
Obviously the dress code is still in effect.
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The day degrassiblog.com is gone is the day I give up all hope on the Degrassi fanbase. The facebook is horrible, the tumblr chicks are over-analyzing anything simple and complaining about Eli every 5 seconds. It’s ridiculous, here is frankly the only place you can get some intelligent Degrassi conversation with other fans.
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DTNGHO!! Ahh how fun that was. haha I’ve been following this site for a while, and like many others, it’s the only Degrassi site i follow.
And yeah, I kind of lost touch with Degrassi around season 8, and what got me back into watching was Degrassi Goes Hollywood, and this blog site. Thank you for your dedication to this fantastic franchise! It’s been such a big part of my life! lol
p.s. Does anyone else remember the music video contests from DTNGHO?!?
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@Manny’s Boobs not sure if you were here, but do you remember a girl named Kaylynn Kenver who came to my defense sometimes because apparently we were the same age? She left Degrassiblog shortly before The Boiling Point started. When I later checked out her, erm, lovely blog at The-Splash.com, I found out she had lied about her age. She’s 17 and only said she was my age to ‘blend in with the target audience’ which is total bullshit. I’ve been watching Degrassi since I was 7 back in 2003. I’m about to be 15, but never once have I lied about my age.
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@Kaz
come to the TV.com board. we’re a pretty mature/calm/fun community. and calm, ever since the board war stemming from Season 8 ended.
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I have a feeling I know exactly why Dave and Adam would clash. Remember in Still Fighting It Part Two when Dave was talking to Wesley about how “That’s so gay” and Riley confronted him? Based on that, we can safely assume that Dave is a homophobe. Therefore, I doubt he’d take too lightly to a transgender. I’ll be willing to bet that this has some relation as to why they are fighting.
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Just becuz somebody says something is gay dosent exactly mean their a homophobe….
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RIP Degrassi sites. You’ve left your mark on the fans and you will always be remembered.
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@Rachel that’s quite obvious, but I wouldn’t put it past Dave of all characters on the show. He seems to think rather highly of himself…
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OMG you are so right! DegrassiTNGHO was the place for me, it was how I started downloading the episodes. It felt like home. I am the hugest Degrassi fan there is and that site reminded me of it !!!
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LOL I remember the good old days of downloading episodes on SoulSeek on my dial up! I think I still have it on my old computer.
How I managed to be that patient, I will never know.
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I miss Degrassi-Boards. After season 4 that was the place where I spent a lot of my time to discuss the show. I was so disappointed when whatever happened to the site happened but I guess it wouldn’t matter too much today because once new niners and Lakehurst entered the show the site died down a lot.
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