Seeing as how HDBits staff is so elitist and full of themselves, that actually sounds like a good idea and substitute of the current invite method (er, or lack thereof!!).
If I had a friend who had an invite into a site I wanted and vice versa of course i would swap with them.
Many people I have met on a site like this or a torrent site are good people. Like many people did this week when I heard about hdbits opening up I pm'd a dozen or so regular people i chat with at least once a month and said if u get an extra invite can u hook me up. To me thats what being a good member of the torrent scene does. U help friends enjoy Movies,tv,games, and music......
Nucks, you make a LOT of excellent and valid points, especially w/ regards to trading invites. I seriously have no idea why trading invites are so frowned upon, either (w/ the exception of SELLING invites). When you mention about swapping invites between friends, I was thinking the same damn thing.
I used to borrow games back n' forth between friends the same as you mentioned and view doing the same w/ torrent tracker invites the same. Now, if you happen to trade a good invite to some random nub who leeches one big movie file, doesn't seed, goes away for a month, and gets you both banned, well that's your own damn fault for being an idiot.
Now, back to HDBits, if the staff truly feel this way about a lot of their members (meaning, looking down upon them and frowning), why not revamp their current method of thinking? Why not wipe out low ratio, inactive, and/or non-involved members? 23,000 members. Surely there are lots bad apples in that bunch. Think about it, if only 1% are bad, that's still 230 people!!!!!
Clear out some dead weight, while making way for eager HD-lovers, who SEED and contribute, and who've been waiting to get in for years (like myself, for starters!).
Sadly, I feel the doors to HDBits will be closed for another year and possibly for the rest of its' life (w/ the exception of staff members or VIP members who can, I believe, still give out invites to their buddies).