Black Hole

The Black Hole was an area in 2001 where Jagex moderators would send players who broke the rules of the game. Players were confined to the area, couldn't move, couldn't trade, and couldn't teleport out.

Curious players would intentionally misbehave in order to see the Black Hole for themselves. In turn, Jagex added the "black hole experience" on 12 July, which allowed players to visit on their own accord. Thordur, a dwarf in the west cavern of the Dwarven Mines, sold disks of returning for 10 coins. The player could then "spin" the disk or climb down the nearby ladder to enter the Black Hole. Once inside, the only escape was to "spin" the disk again. Players often exploited uninformed players by claiming that "something cool" happened when the disk was dropped, leaving them trapped until they were rescued by Jagex moderators.

Removal
The Black Hole experience was removed in December 2001 and Thordur along with it. Disks of returning, however, remained in the game, becoming rare and expensive, albeit useless items. The Black Hole itself was also replaced at some point as a form of punishment.

Boot the Dwarf later became a resident of the area. He gave a response in 2006 for the removal of the Black Hole in a website feature called Postbag from the Hedge:

Thordur used to have a theme ride really close to my little shoe, er, sorry, cave. I used to live in a shoe, you see, it's easy to get confused...but anyway, he was forced to close it down. You see, it was a magical journey to some really dark, really empty shoes. I mean caves. People wanted to see the 'black hole', a place where all the naughty dwarves were sent when they had been bad. My mother used to tell me that I would be sent there if I didn't clean my shoe in the morning. I used to live in a shoe, you see, that's why I am called Boot. Anyway, Thordur ran into problems with the board for Dwarven tourism who had issues with some humans who didn't like shoes. No, hang on, that's not it...no, wait a mo... They had become stuck out in the blackness. The black guard had tried to shoe them, er, I mean shoo them out, but they, like all humans, wouldn't stop complaining. So he had to close the place down. Anyway, the secure cells they send bad folks too are far more organised now, so the tale of Thordur's black hole is more of a legend these days. Now, where's my old woman gone?