No, not dead, we employ. Add the console, command -
addnode

For example: addnode xsu4xad7mohyz57j.onion:8777 add

[
{
"addr" : "xsu4xad7mohyz57j.onion:8777",
"services" : "00000003",
"lastsend" : 1428237546,
"lastrecv" : 1428237620,
"bytessent" : 11181,
"bytesrecv" : 16573,
"blocksrequested" : 0,
"conntime" : 1428229239,
"version" : 400,
"subver" : "/Satoshi:0.4.0/",
"inbound" : false,
"startingheight" : 949,
"banscore" : 0,
"syncnode" : true
},
{
"addr" : "127.0.0.1:58613",
"services" : "00000003",
"lastsend" : 1428237611,
"lastrecv" : 1428237620,
"bytessent" : 25767,
"bytesrecv" : 16935,
"blocksrequested" : 0,
"conntime" : 1428230172,
"version" : 400,
"subver" : "/Satoshi:0.4.0/",
"inbound" : true,
"startingheight" : 965,
"banscore" : 0
},
{
"addr" : "127.0.0.1:58907",
"services" : "00000003",
"lastsend" : 1428237620,
"lastrecv" : 1428237621,
"bytessent" : 8365,
"bytesrecv" : 8313,
"blocksrequested" : 0,
"conntime" : 1428234380,
"version" : 400,
"subver" : "/Satoshi:0.4.0/",
"inbound" : true,
"startingheight" : 1003,
"banscore" : 0
},
{
"addr" : "ofkrgg5vayfe7ggz.onion:8777",
"services" : "00000003",
"lastsend" : 1428237616,
"lastrecv" : 1428237620,
"bytessent" : 5766,
"bytesrecv" : 4884,
"blocksrequested" : 0,
"conntime" : 1428234590,
"version" : 400,
"subver" : "/Satoshi:0.4.0/",
"inbound" : false,
"startingheight" : 1003,
"banscore" : 0
},
{
"addr" : "l2jd6cc7fld4ymsr.onion:8777",
"services" : "00000003",
"lastsend" : 1428237625,
"lastrecv" : 1428237624,
"bytessent" : 1641,
"bytesrecv" : 3748,
"blocksrequested" : 0,
"conntime" : 1428237143,
"version" : 400,
"subver" : "/Satoshi:0.4.0/",
"inbound" : false,
"startingheight" : 1008,
"banscore" : 0
},
{
"addr" : "127.0.0.1:51691",
"services" : "00000003",
"lastsend" : 1428237545,
"lastrecv" : 1428237619,
"bytessent" : 400,
"bytesrecv" : 1059,
"blocksrequested" : 0,
"conntime" : 1428237336,
"version" : 400,
"subver" : "/Satoshi:0.4.0/",
"inbound" : true,
"startingheight" : 1008,
"banscore" : 0
},
{
"addr" : "yshaqcp45o7sj2n5.onion:8777",
"services" : "00000003",
"lastsend" : 1428237620,
"lastrecv" : 1428237620,
"bytessent" : 68473,
"bytesrecv" : 7847,
"blocksrequested" : 0,
"conntime" : 1428237354,
"version" : 400,
"subver" : "/Satoshi:0.4.0/",
"inbound" : false,
"startingheight" : 921,
"banscore" : 0
},
{
"addr" : "127.0.0.1:51719",
"services" : "00000003",
"lastsend" : 1428237619,
"lastrecv" : 1428237620,
"bytessent" : 3393,
"bytesrecv" : 2203,
"blocksrequested" : 0,
"conntime" : 1428237408,
"version" : 400,
"subver" : "/Satoshi:0.4.0/",
"inbound" : true,
"startingheight" : 1008,
"banscore" : 0
}
]