Well, we intended to open it for public use yesterday, with a charge of so many dollars per entrance. We were testing key features, such as how to charge the money, how to remove the spawners and get Blazes spawning naturally instead, and other interesting twists.
We created a portal in the pewter museum to create the only access point on the map, and then disabled portal-creation for regular users. That's the only way we could regulate the location people use to get in. It was then blocked off so that no one could use it while we were testing. The block was made like so, right in front of the portal itself. So in front of the 4x4 box of exposed portal, it had:
O = Obsidian A = Air
OOOO
OOAO
OAOO
OOOO
So those two Air blocks were there for aesthetic purposes, showing off the nether and how it would soon be open, and unwittingly made very creative individuals find a way in. They used Ender Pearls to teleport through the slot, and land in the portal zone. Who exactly found the exploit is not yet proven, but we are fairly certain based on given evidence. After entering, the individual spread the word to other players, and the group explored and did a very thorough job of cleaning out the world.
I'm fairly hazy on how the Admins found out, or who said what, most of the decisions were made before I logged on. I invite Rigby57 and Zombiedood to fill in this blank portion.
I am positive however, that we have logged proof that we stated (with many of the violators online) that the nether would not be opened for 24 hours after a certain point yesterday.
Quote: [Broadcast] Due to Archie's incessant pestering, the nether will not be opened for another 24 hours.
So none (especially not the initial ones who got in) can say that whey were not aware of the break in the rules. In addition to the use of ender pearls to get around an obvious "I-Can't-Walk-Through-This-Hurr-Durr" blockage.