Early eDonkey networking relied on servers run by people who contributed resources. Those servers handled discovery traffic and could become busy or vulnerable points. The original article used that dependency to introduce later approaches.
From server directories to other designs
MetaMachine developed Overnet as an alternative way to organise discovery. eMule's developers implemented Kad, based on Kademlia, to provide their own decentralised discovery route.
These names describe different technologies and projects. They should not be treated as interchangeable labels for the same network. In eMule, eD2K and Kad can operate together.
Discovery and an established transfer
A client needs a way to find sources, but the data transfer itself is between peers. An existing connection can therefore behave differently from a new search if a discovery service becomes unavailable.
The older article exaggerated this into a general promise that downloads could continue for days after a disconnection. Whether a transfer continues depends on the actual client connections and source availability, not a guaranteed period of time.
The original eDonkey period
The source described eDonkey's popularity during the early 2000s and compared it with FastTrack. It quoted very large file and server totals for that period. Those figures belong to the historical account and are not measurements of today's network.
It then discussed the legal dispute involving MetaMachine in 2006, the end of distribution of the original client and the messages shown to its users. The important technical distinction is that stopping distribution of one application did not erase every implementation of compatible networking.
What continued
Other clients, including eMule, continued implementing their own features and supporting compatible ways to find and transfer files. A protocol, a server, a software project and a company can have different lifetimes.
That distinction is useful when reading old pages that say eDonkey disappeared. They may mean the original commercial application rather than every eD2K-compatible client or peer.
Using eMule now
For present-day use, obtain the client from an identifiable project, use a maintained server list and understand Kad separately. The current network guide explains what is still needed for a transfer to complete.