Let's talk about BT

[myshit]

Nice discourse you have going on here



On those rare instants that i'll be on a BT client i'll probably be leeching 0-day material.0-day because its what interests me and its what led me to torrents in the first place plus as of recently,it tends to collect more points if am to re-share on warez by upping to a one click host such as rapidshare.

What do you feel is the ideal tracker for you, and are you a member of a site that fills those requirements?

As you can see,my bar isn't set as high so any good general tracker is more than ideal for me,in which case there exists a plethora although fast pres are a necessity especially when am of the intention to share on RS.This coupled with forum activity that actually interests me puts S*C as my camelot and chalisto as the guy who brought it to me for which am thankful of him.

What do you see the politics of BT entailing, and does it affect your actions in this field?

I've seen a couple of people say that the politics isn't of any significance to them.In which case i'll assume that its upto personal interpretation coz in as far as I know,a people who aren't interested in their politics are a people who either don't care or aren't as connected with their community as they are supposed to be.Sort of like young people with elections and yes it does affect how I torrent.

Do you think there is an ethos necessary when interacting, and if so, what does it consist of? By this I mean what do you think the "morals" of BT are, if you think there should be.

Fact is what we do is illegal but its not necessarily a 'crime'.Even the RIAA knows this.Alot of us probably use pot as much as its proscribed yet we still make good people in our societies.So this notion that a code of conduct is fallacious given that piracy is considered to be outside the law(law that is always subject to change and interpretation)is just wrong.

As to what the ethos entail,its pretty much common sense given that the polarity between wrong and right is crystal.
Though i'll put more emphasis on respect as is in being a two way traffic.It works in maximum security lock-ups with murderers and rapists so I don't see why it shouldn't with mere illegal file sharers.

One more thing,if you have the money it really doesn't hurt to buy.$0.99 is not that expensive to pay for music.

But just my opinion.

 

[SwAnToN_bOmB]

Seriously you cannot teach anything to someone who has no desire to learn.

You'll get no argument from me on that one

 

[harlequinromance345]

u forgot to mention u are an ex trader and how ptn was started by a group of traders

Well, first off, the only thing I ever traded in my life was baseball cards when I was a teenager, and secondly, all that was beaten into the ground more than a year ago, but thank you for the well spoken and greatly enlightening post about how you view bit torrent.

 

[Joe Español]

I try not to get involved with politics and all the BT drama. However, I can say that I often see people attack one another, and bring up past mistakes as a weapon against them. I've also noticed that a lot of staff out there pay attention to how one behaves at other places, and act accordingly. A recent example of this is when a member who was invited to a particular tracker by another member of that tracker was soon after disabled by staff there, based on what the staff had observed of that invitee at other places. It sure enforced the sense that "the online BT community is global now". You have to be mindful of yourself at all times, or things may not happen as you wish them to.

So, is that a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, it's a given that word will travel, but that could lead to a serious diminishing of real unabashed honesty. If we spend all our time thinking about the ramifications of a sentence or an opinion we spend less time actually expressing what we really think. There are exceptions to that rule, but they are the result of the that accumulated respect that gives those words weight where an unknown user won't have that liberty with the words he uses.

Then you have to take into account multiple nicks and all the words those different nicks post. A lot of folks use multiple nicks to host those masks of personality that were mentioned by ovisan. Not everyone ofc, as many people now active were taught, at the forums they learned about this world from, to hide their forum identity from the trackers they join to keep their inviter and themselves safe.

In all honesty, I really think the need for such practices is outdated and unneccessary, but I harbor no animosity toward all invite forums, with the caveat that the ones I like are sites that actively try to lead new members in the right direction. Not all tracker staff feel the same way I do about those forums.

 

[King Fu]

Why do you use bit torrent, and why to the degree that you use it?

I use it because it's cheaper than RS, and I can find more rare content than on Usenet. I also enjoy the sense of community that comes with a torrent site.

What do you feel is the ideal tracker for you, and are you a member of a site that fills those requirements?

Karagarga and Cinematik. Rare/offbeat films + DVDR format = my heaven

Do you feel you are on enough trackers, and what do you think is too many trackers?

When it comes to movies, I could always use more trackers. Otherwise, I'm set.

If somebody only downloads scene content, then 1-3 trackers should be plenty. But if your really into collecting offbeat and rare music/movies/games etc. like me, then I don't think you should follow the idea that you only need a few trackers. I'm a member at SDBits, Tehconnection, KG, S-C, Cinematik, THC, PTN Sparvar, iTS, goem, and a heck of a lot more. It probably sounds like I'm a collector, but if I were not a member at so many of these trackers than my DVD-R collection would be significantly smaller, because so many of my movies were only available at only one place.

What do you see the politics of BT entailing, and does it affect your actions in this field?

Not 100% what you mean... :\ Do you mean the whole tracker levels thing? If so, I think it's extremely silly that people seek hard to find trackers (many of which are simply 0-day trackers anyway), rather than trackers that actually provide content that they want.

Do you think there is an ethos necessary when interacting, and if so, what does it consist of? By this I mean what do you think the "morals" of BT are, if you think there should be.

Too tired to answer, lol

 

[Mrs. Tracy]

Why do you use bit torrent, and why to the degree that you use it?

What do you feel is the ideal tracker for you, and are you a member of a site that fills those requirements?

Do you feel you are on enough trackers, and what do you think is too many trackers?

What do you see the politics of BT entailing, and does it affect your actions in this field?

Do you think there is an ethos necessary when interacting, and if so, what does it consist of? By this I mean what do you think the "morals" of BT are, if you think there should be.

I don't know if this is just too general a subject for discussion here, but I'd really like to get a wide view of what people think about this thing we do, and would only ask that people keep it about BT and stay civil.

Nice thread mate. Due to the long lineup at the store I will take the liberty to answer your inquiries.

I use BT to download, interact with people that are fun to be around, and act intelligent.

The ideal tracker for me is a tracker that has everything essential - speed, content, etc. - along with no stress regarding checking your ratio and stats every 5 seconds, and with a great community that varies in personalities.

Yes the tracker I'm on fulfills all my needs.

It differs for every person. I think the general rule is if you're less active on trackers because of other trackers it's too much. For me 2-5 is ideal.

Not sure about the 'politics' and morals of BT, after all I treat it as a hobby, not a government. I just follow the rules and try to have fun while doing so.

Thanks for killing 10 minutes of the wal-mart lineup, good sir.

 

[highperactive]

Why do you use bit torrent, and why to the degree that you use it?

I use it to illegally download any copyrighted material that I want.

I don't use bittorrent as much as I once did since I've kind of moved on to other methods of file sharing. But I still download from a tracker usually once or twice a week.

What do you feel is the ideal tracker for you, and are you a member of a site that fills those requirements?

My ideal tracker is one that would have every single file that I, personally, would ever be interested in. Combined with nice and understanding staff, and without having to worry about ratio requirements.

And no. There's not one single tracker that exists(not even Demonoid) that has every single file that I would ever want. I do belong to a tracker or two that have some of THE nicest and most understanding staff that you could ever want, along with basically no heavy ratio requirements. But no tracker will ever have all the content that I'm interested in.

Do you feel you are on enough trackers, and what do you think is too many trackers?

Yes. I am on more than enough of trackers. I personally think a handful of trackers is all a person needs to belong to. One tracker, maybe two, for each type of content that you are interested in is more than enough. These people that belong to ten, twenty, or more trackers are, well...obviously collecting. There's no need to be a member at that many sites.

What do you see the politics of BT entailing, and does it affect your actions in this field?

"Bt politics" interest me none. I just do my thing and try to stay within the rules of each tracker I belong to(whether I agree with them or not).

By this I mean what do you think the "morals" of BT are, if you think there should be.

I think kallieb said it best with consideration and respect.

Nice thread.

 

[LONELYFOREVER]

Criticizing and flaming are 2 separate things. Nothing is reason to flame someone, even if that person is flaming you. There's constructive criticism, you can say "your site sucks" or "I think your site needs to improve, x and x are not good on your site and you could improve it doing x or x". You picked sites criticism but the same goes for members flaming each other. There's no reason to be "the bad guy". Sure, it's fun flaming, but it takes you nowhere.

What i believe is that sometimes there is a certain confusion between mocking and flaming, not criticizing

 

[pink.tutu95]

You edited your post

Do you think it is easy to integrate a community established some years ago ?
(As in real life when you join a group of friends who have common experiences)

It is up to you, entirely.

I have arrived every single tracker late, they where all already well established... and i never had any problems metting people or making friends... specially @ E i meet great guys over there who teched me so much.... ( joined less than a year a go ) altough i found it funny that it was easier to make friends whit the staff than normal users, maybe because most off the guys in the irc are kids, and the staff is usually the only ones whit more than 18years.
/me thinks this could explain why i never got along whit anyone at ftn ... :S

 

[Anastazia G]

Well, first off, the only thing I ever traded in my life was baseball cards when I was a teenager, and secondly, all that was beaten into the ground more than a year ago, but thank you for the well spoken and greatly enlightening post about how you view bit torrent.

Fuck baseball I traded Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. I think I might still have my Reptile deck even...

 

[Snow Fall]

duh.. retards like ya make FST 'out Fucking STanding'.. :frusty:
refrain from posting if ya have no idea what you are on about..

the truth hurts

You're probably right mate about too much to offer and no one to enjoy it. But yes people do enjoy the trackers they belong to. Every site has their diehards and you can see the enjoyment they get out of it easily. I'd also say that the vast majority of members that you never see and just download are also enjoying it well at least enjoying having access to free media.

you're right sear.... but imo ppl who create places such as fsc with an awful tracker and a forum slower than dialup on a t1 connection ...dont give us torrenters much to enjoy except that it is ranked 9 on a traders level list

 

[ghost_monkey47]

I BT because it's an addiction. Same with stats and getting to those uber ranks. It's not even about the content anymore for me, unless it's a music tracker.

 

[First on the way!]

To answer your question I agree with you. I think there is no 'one' ideal type of member. Everybody does what they can. Some just download and help that way. Others seed till it bleeds and keep torrents alive. Some people might bring their fast pipes while others participate in the forums and IRC while some just live in the IRC and you never see them on the site hardly at all.

Every 'good' member just does what comes natural to them really and take part in the way they feel like. Just because someone doesn't want to take part in the forums doesn't make them a bad member lol it is a tracker after all.

You reassure me because I was beginning to think that I was really a bad member.

 

[Carol R]

I use bittorrent because im too cheap to actually buy all the stuff i want. Besudes this is much more convenient.

S*T is prolly the best for me(tv shows, movies, some games). S*C is basically interchangeable with it except S*T gets some soccer games for me once in a while. For a bigtime action movies ill head over to hdbits for a proper high qual user rip. For most music i use what. BCG, KG, TT and bitme round out my other needs.

I'm lookin for one or two more trackers that have eluded me for some time.

I really don't care what politicians say I don't trust any of em.

Morals of BT? Keep seeding for a couple weeks and don't hide some malware in your ups.

BT will live on forever. Distributed file sharing systems cannot be stopped. It might have to evolve but the idea will be the same. (Such as using http prot)


Love all my torrenters! ;D

 

[bryndan]

Sorry Intransit hes still asleep...

Idoleyes this no pm rule for 30 days is really shitty.

U dunno what is IC ? its a forum. Nothing like tr or tps or cfs, ppl dont beg for nothing... or suck...

Anyway....

Back on topic boys and girls

@leech i dont think so, but im not all that active so...

 

[Stranger In Florida™]

This point is part of why I included the "moral" question, as all of it is based on the fact that we are unequivocally stealing. There is an accompanying excitement when you start stealing better, faster, longer higher quality, so it's really no surprise that people get worked up I guess. The question becomes what lengths would you go to sate a desire for rebelliousness and the rush that comes from it. But that's kind of veering toward human psychology and prolly left out of this thread for now.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Intr4ns1t
What do you see the politics of BT entailing, and does it affect your actions in this field?

Now this is a massive question. I'm going to try not to go into a long rant on the politics of BT, but it's a doozy.

The worst part of BT is the ugly side of the politics and the egos. Too many times I've seen people's character assassinated and the massive shit storms that ensue can I admit be fun to watch but are sickening to be a part of. I guess it comes down to a large group of people interacting. Once that happens you're bound to have some ugly politics because lets face it the world is full of people with low scruples or who are just downright vindictive.

Part of the problem as I see it is the age and maturity level of members of the community. As the age of BT users has gotten younger and it's become the dominant form of file sharing the politics have become much harsher and there's a tendency to gang up on people much like in high school. Personally I try to stay out of it, but that's not always possible for whatever reason.

First off, awesome post sear, and yeah the politics is a doozy indeed As I see it, politics is natural. It's the execution that leaves something to be desired and I fully agree that the boom of BT has dramaticly lowered the mean age of torrenters, and hell even staffers for that matter. Not to disparage any younger members, but with age often comes the experience to know how to respond in different circumstances.

So how to temper that lack of experience? I personally try to be at least a moderate role model ( not trying to sound self righteous, really) for newer members of the BT world in the hopes that it'll sink in and help raise the quality of everyones interactions. I know there are a few folks that inhabit this section here and other forums as well, that do try to be a betterment to the bt community, and they are often the people that have been around for a good bit of time. Now, I'm no perfect example by any stretch of the imagination, but I try, and that is important to me. Most likely it's the sole reason I still enjoy this "hobby".

IMO I'm on too many trackers. I've culled them down over the years and I have a few that I use regularly. The rest that I haven't abandoned I keep because of personal relationships.

Generally I think 5-6 trackers is about right. You'll want two 0-day in case one goes down then a few that are specialised to meet your particular needs. In my case I have a few music trackers. One that has everything and others that specialise in the type of music I like to listen to. On top of that you'll want a good user upload site for interesting different content and of course demonoid for all the rare stuff you can't find.

There is a tendency for people to become obsessed with getting on as many trackers as they can. Members always think the next tracker could have that upload the others don't and when you first get on the BT scene you'll find that you quickly have 20-30.

Now most people will look at this and say to themselves well they actually all have the same stuff and I don't really need all these sites to fulfill my needs and start letting them go inactive. Others however get caught up in level chasing and treat them like Pokemon cards for collecting and trading.

I actually see it as a kind of sickness and it's done a lot of harm to the BT world. People never end up giving back to the communities they're members of and just do the bare minimum. It's actually quite sad because there are some good friendships to be had and it can be quite satisfying to focus your efforts and see a positive result.

There's also the tendency to allow this hobby to interfere with RL. If you can't find that balance then get out now. Nothing on torrents is worth sacrificing a second of real life for.

It's a huge leap from mininova to any of the myriad of private trackers that exist now and that search can be a very consuming one. I'm glad you point out the obsession factor that has to play some sort of role in how things happen especially when people get very passionate about that search.

Honesty with ourselves in how much is too much is hard to achieve when we get our eyes on a prize, and if that prize is as vaporous as the "best tracker in the world" we can maybe never know if we found that perfect place. I guess you know it when you see it.

That last bit you wrote makes me wonder where the line lays between interference and accessorization. I mean, as time progresses, life in a good portion of the world is fast becoming intrinsicly tied to the internet, and real life is intertwining with it like vines intermingling on a trellis. Makes me wonder...

What do you feel is the ideal tracker for you, and are you a member of a site that fills those requirements?

My ideal tracker is one that would have every single file that I, personally, would ever be interested in. Combined with nice and understanding staff, and without having to worry about ratio requirements.

And no. There's not one single tracker that exists(not even Demonoid) that has every single file that I would ever want. I do belong to a tracker or two that have some of THE nicest and most understanding staff that you could ever want, along with basically no heavy ratio requirements. But no tracker will ever have all the content that I'm interested in.

I like your answer as I think it's an honest one and a demonstration of the fact that no tracker is perfect. There will always be something, even if we don't know what it is at the time we ask ourselves that question, that any site is lacking. How picky we are determines when we feel we've got what we want?

 

[Shawn L.]

You raise a great point Bad-Day. Market saturation I guess. Perhaps the boom in the number of trackers doesn't parallel the boom in torrenters and it's thinned the available bandwidth out to all trackers. It is an observable fact that many trackers have gotten proactive in the search for active members what with the rise in the number of interview channels on irc for a number of trackers, and the idea of "recruiters"

Trackers want more members, but they also want safer members and it's created a sort of forced socialization, in that it's fast becoming a prerequisite to have a demonstrable community activity level on the trackers people already have. That activity is a commodity in the trust equation. But there are only so many active folks for now and barring turning people into torrenters that otherwise wouldn't is not really an option.

@ BrianH or whoever you normally are, do you need a hug man?

 

[The Candyman]

for some strange reason whenever I read any of your post it always sounds like you've been sent by TPS or something.

And about the being nice part,it doesn't take half a brain to figure who's being nice coz they are nice and who's being nice coz they want something but still refuse to admit it(what kinda idiots do they think we imiz).For starters just dig through your post history here and those other places then compare it with that of dawn-6 or lisabritpop or the guy dishing polish tracker invites or the guy who got banned by what for doing a giveaway here and eventually getting re-enabled(jincandoit was his nick) then see whether your 'niceness' doesn't warrant cabalo's distaste.

Being nice is good but i think it goes hand in hand with honesty.I'd rather an IRC stranger who chats me up coz he knows am on tracker X and may potentially have invites than someone who is being nice with me over pm or pretends to share similar interests with me only to stop upon realisation that I don't got shit for him but then continues to deny that they were/are nice only coz of the invites

 

[midnitewhispers23]

I BT because it's an addiction. Same with stats and getting to those uber ranks. It's not even about the content anymore for me, unless it's a music tracker.

Well, I think you should be applauded for being honest. You actually are bringing up something that probably should be addressed if we are really talking about all aspects of BT. I am positive that there are quite a few folks that also find themselves unable to stop, much like gambling, the feeling of elation at achieving some transient goal driving them well past sane usage levels.

I mean, I'm sure most of us have at least heard reference to internet addiction, so it can only be worse in BT as there is a semi tangible reward to it, in the speed you get your files, or the esteem of the trackers you gain entry to, or the selection you have to choose from. It's easy for someone to say "use moderation" but there is always the crutch of community there to help us convince ourselves that it's a valid use of time.

I wish you luck in dealing with your addiction bas1c, and only wish I could tell you something to make it easier to unplug, other than just saying "you should unplug" but there's not really much else to say.

 

[Timberton4]

Indeed there are some people in BT that have an amazing amount of knowledge and experience, whether it be technical personal or both. I know some of the people that I've looked up to (and still do) have taught me some really valuable lessons that I've transported to my real life.

Leading by example is all we can do to try and raise the bar.

That last bit you wrote makes me wonder where the line lays between interference and accessorization. I mean, as time progresses, life in a good portion of the world is fast becoming intrinsicly tied to the internet, and real life is intertwining with it like vines intermingling on a trellis. Makes me wonder...

I often think about this too I think as time goes on the lines will become more and more blurred. It's an interesting new world we're forging for ourselves here.

Realistically though it can become a problem for many people (myself included). I guess it's a personal thing but for me when I'm spending more time online then I am hanging out with my family or going to parties and pubs and just generally socializing then that's how I know I need to take a step back.