Same here story here too... after hearing multiple friends busted for torrenting, I setting up a DC++ server under my dorm desk and the rest is history. With some help with friends in each dorm area on campus, we mapped out the IP address blocks for the residential network and white-listed all traffic to the server to prevent the heat that the UCLA DC++ servers were experiencing (circa 2003-2004).
The topper however is how almost 6 years later I was referred to and hired by a bio tech start up based on the fact that the CEO remembered me as the DC++ admin during his days in the dorms.
Kids these days... I remember when DirectConnect was a crappy VB program that crashed continuously, and DC++ was just getting started as a replacement (they didn't even have a server at the time, only a client).
The topper however is how almost 6 years later I was referred to and hired by a bio tech start up based on the fact that the CEO remembered me as the DC++ admin during his days in the dorms.