I tried d2maniacs but the lag was pretty bad. 1sec delay for everything, I couldnt bare it. Probably because the servers are hosting in germany and im from california...
So does anyone know of any other active private servers out there?

there are very many. you just have to search around. try d2 rot (realm of teror) go to jayofteror.com and register then download the things needed for it. its very easy to set up and very nice people!
i used to play until my comp got a virus or something and i decided to redo my computer... i cant find my play disk or any play disk iso's
hope this helped bud. have fun =D