my anaylsis on usenet vs torrenting

**Disme** · 04-27-2011, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by shipwreck

It was about the claim that bittorrent was under pressure from the authorities, ISPs, anti-piracy organisations and other lobby groups, actually to the degree that there is a danger of it going extinct, while usenet is not. It was claimed that in foreseeable time, usenet would be the only alternative left, creating the illusion of 'immunity' of usenet to similar threats. And that, my friends, is an illusion indeed. Nothing more, nothing less.

100% true ... no file-sharing method will last forever. BT has had some heat, but survived until now and is still going very strong.
Usenet isn't targetted yet like BT, because of the very nature of the newsgroups. They cannot 'shutdown' a newsgroup like they can shutdown a tracker, the only thing they can do (for now) is those DMCA takedowns but we all know it depends on what provider you're with and hasn't had that much impact.

But believe me ... if the usenet get's as popular and widespread as BT is now, the authorities will try to take other measures to prevent the Usenet from being a 'safe-heaven' for filesharing.

This is indeed a pointless discussion ... BT has it pro's and cons, and Usenet has it's own pro's and cons.
It's highly personal and depends indeed on a lot of personal preferences and situations to make a universal statement about wich 'method' suits you best.

**shipwreck** · 04-27-2011, 01:17 PM

Disme, let me say that you're a smart fella and understood exactly what I was aiming at.

Seriously, just use whatever suits you best. Let's just be glad that there are various alternatives available and that leeching stuff was probably never so easy as it is today, despite all the lobbying and fear mongering. May it long continue.

P.S.: I was ironic with the 'bittorrent > usenet' comment earlier on in this thread btw., thought it was pretty obvious.

**mjmacky** · 04-27-2011, 05:47 PM

But you didn't point out one of private BT's biggest flaws, you're subject to the whims of 1337 feeling tweens. And you left out the part about rimjobbing in your quest to find everything you're looking for in privatebt.

**Disme** · 04-27-2011, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by mjmacky

But you didn't point out one of private BT's biggest flaws, you're subject to the whims of 1337 feeling tweens. And you left out the part about rimjobbing in your quest to find everything you're looking for in privatebt.

That's where you are wrong ... I can honestly say I've never had to rim anyones anus to get wherever I wanted. I applied in some GA's for the easily accessible trackers here at FST but never made any requests for the "'higher'-level"-trackers. I just got involved in the community that is FST because I liked it here (and still do) and I never spent much time on IRC, nor did I spend ages on tracker-forums. I just wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere so I never felt like I lacked something. Eventually invites started popping in my PM-boxes here and there (from people I didn't expect).

They based their decisions on the posts they read here and there and the opinion they formed based on that, not on any kind of asskissing. I believe there are a lot of people here at FST and other places that got in all the 'l33t' plces without actually striving to get there.

**shipwreck** · 04-27-2011, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by mjmacky

But you didn't point out one of private BT's biggest flaws, you're subject to the whims of 1337 feeling tweens. And you left out the part about rimjobbing in your quest to find everything you're looking for in privatebt.

Never once had to. Simply asking for an invite, usually the tracker staff themselves, was always enough. Most of my trackers I joined through open signups even, which used to be a lot more common back in the days than they are now.

You can get involved in all the drama and ego tripping kids, but you don't have to. I never did. For some, it's even some kind of entertainment.

**zot** · 04-28-2011, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by shipwreck

Most of my trackers I joined through open signups even, which used to be a lot more common back in the days than they are now.

I remember when open signups were the rule. It seemed like it was only after the Elite Torrents Bust in 2005 that virtually all the other private tracker sites immediately ended open registration and started an "invite only" policy.

After the Oink bust I thought that they'd all think "what the hell" and re-open registrations (as it obviously offered little protection) but it seems to have become part of the exclusivist/elitist culture: the harder a place is to get in, the more desirable it becomes.

**shipwreck** · 04-28-2011, 11:33 AM

And I personally think that this 'elitist' culture, which was 'imported' from the traditional scene and wasn't characteristic for private torrent trackers at first indeed, is a negative development, in essence contradictory to the principle of file sharing. So if you want to criticise the current tracker world, that's a valid point IMHO.

However, there simply are so many good trackers out there these days that there are good or even excellent alternatives for all of the so called 'rare' trackers, provided that you're really only interested in the content and less about the 'status' of being member on a rare, exclusive site.