I miss running an empire full of adults as a 12 year old...FTP server scripting and custom eggdrop bots were what got me into coding

The feeling of power in initiating FXP transfers as a teenager. I was so proud of my courier title.

Glftpd?

FlashFXP

Release groups still are creating ascii art in their nfo files even today

Yes but eventually the cost of the crime outweighs the time and you lose touch

They still exist.

I'm not really impressed with the NFOs I see these days. As far as I can tell the "scene" (FXP couriers, tiers of groups, topsites, etc.) is pretty dried up and there are just a few "groups" releasing torrents these days, so the diversity of NFO art as well as the competitive aspect seems significantly less fun than it used to.

Or I've gotten older and more out of touch. Hard to tell which sometimes :)