Had same problem w/ Gnotella 1.05.
public.bearshare.net had been working but quit.
hosts.txt from gnotella....... failed to produce connections.

I checked the other posts and found the correct answer is to add connect1.bearshare.net to the list of saved hosts
(See setup->network connections then use add)
From the hosts menu, I had to manually select the
connect1.bearshare.net server and click add.

Hope it helps.