A disclaimer

[hagckz0r]

I am feeling your penises are turning into pussies :-s

[megabyteme]

It has not occurred to me prior to this, but FST is more of an information source than it is any kind of club. With journalism comes a variety of lines- Do we care about and confirm our sources? Do we put our sponsors above our readers? Do we honor an individual's/group's right to privacy? Is there such a thing as privacy? Who has the right to know? Is there a right to know anything?

Many of these questions have been looming in the background for quite a while. With change comes a re-invigoration of these questions.

I don't believe anyone has a definitive answer. A quick scan of the evening "news" shows the direction of journalism as a whole. Controversy sells. We cast our votes for sensationalism and tabloid journalism every time we indulge in that kind of guilty pleasure; we support it every time we spread rumors and gossip ourselves.

I do think the makeup of the membership here will be a result of how the answers regarding privacy are presented in the form of site policies. Does the info-seeking community's desire to know outweigh the site creators' interest to remain private? Which choices will bring in and retain the most members on FST? Should FST give credibility to and/or a platform for scorned ex-members?

Personally, I favor an individual's rights to privacy and carry that over to site ownership. I am certain that no one would want their personal information spread around as freely as sites have their content and makeup handed out. In this community, there are substantial personal risks for staffing and/or owning a site. Should these costs be ignored for the benefit of quick info?

In terms of membership quality, I don't think quick and easy equates to better, more trustworthy, or long-lasting. I believe there is benefit in having members who stick around and enjoy being part of the greater community. For those who do, the answers become available. The alternative seems to be people who favor quick, easy answers, and consequently, easy access to the community. I do not think there is reason to believe these in-and-out members will show any kind of longevity on FST, either.

All this said, FST has rights to pursue its interests as well. If current decisions have a substantial effect on membership, either positive or negative, it will be up to the staff and owners to make further changes. FST is a center-point in the file-sharing community- that is one thing I do not see, or want to see, change any time soon!

[Artemis]

I am feeling your penises are turning into pussies :-s

Wow ! I can actually see the I.Q. points disappearing.......

[Bubbles]

The whole "I'm a fucking badass for posting images against tracker wishes behind a fake name, my e-peen is 20 feet long" mentality is the real problem. Really, what's the point of exposing them if they'd rather be left alone? So it can be added to WTAW for more traders to slobber over?

How would it increase your "e-peen" if it's under a fake nick? If I were to post a review, it would be an exposing one for a site with staff who are self righteous ego ridden fucks. But luckily other people will post reviews for those sites, and I can be lazy about it and do nothing.

His "friends" would know about it...you always tell someone when you screw up.

Idol rocks BTW.

[jasperr]

well, let's not turn this discussion into disagreement ... i think IdolEyes is on to something positive.. no need for people to start getting defensive..

[hagckz0r]

I am feeling your penises are turning into pussies :-s

Wow ! I can actually see the I.Q. points disappearing.......

ok! so you indeed are a big fat lady, pls count the iq that's in my pants.. hey mommy how much how much do I have?

Mucho luv for ma hooligans.

[puckface]

My reaction to this has always been: what makes some sites so special? I mean, why do some sites need to be referred to with asterisks and some sites can be talked about openly. Also, the same goes for screen shots and reviews.

Please no one say tracker rules, every site I belong to has a clause somewhere in their rules to not openly discuss the site.. but people only respect the wishes of some of those sites.. I don't care how "rare" your tracker is or if you think that your tracker is the shit or you think you are special, all sites are the same and should be treated as such.

Then the reverse is surely true, if you see all sites as the same, why did you trade for them, or did they once have a value to you but no longer ?
I don't mean this question with any sort of malice truly, it just seems to me that your position now, and your former position as a trader are diametrically opposed ?

Didn't see this yesterday so excuse my delayed response. Firstly, who said my position of a trader was former or current? Whether I do or don't has no bearing on this discussion. But I will answer that they are not opposed since the reason I ever did trade was due to curiosity and the easiest way of obtaining a cure to said curiosity. I still see noting wrong with it.

Having a "value" as you put it is merely a measure of how difficult it is to enter a certain tracker is what I think you meant. I can understand that reaction, but the point here is privacy matters not value. Shouldn't all trackers have their privacy wishes granted and some others not? Or should it be a free for all? These are questions that I cannot answer for myself, they are just something to think about as I stated somewhere earlier. Lots of people break tracker rules everyday here, who am I to say what is right and wrong, all Im saying is that we do it equally.

well, let's not turn this discussion into disagreement ... i think IdolEyes is on to something positive.. no need for people to start getting defensive..

Agreed.

[Artemis]

Wow ! I can actually see the I.Q. points disappearing.......

.............pls count the iq that's in my pants.. hey mommy how much how much do I have?

That is indeed a putdown! Wow, I'm trembling. So they hit you with the stupid stick not once but twice ?

Then the reverse is surely true, if you see all sites as the same, why did you trade for them, or did they once have a value to you but no longer ?
I don't mean this question with any sort of malice truly, it just seems to me that your position now, and your former position as a trader are diametrically opposed ?

........Firstly, who said my position of a trader was former or current?

You have several times, in your own posts.

Having a "value" as you put it is merely a measure of how difficult it is to enter a certain tracker

This is not my value system, this is the value system placed on trackers by those who wish to enter them based on their 'rarity'.

Lots of people break tracker rules everyday here, who am I to say what is right and wrong, all Im saying is that we do it equally.

So if I understand you correctly we should go for the lowest common denominator, i.e. not respect any tracker wishes at all, the url, internal screens, and all other relevant information should be public ? Doesn't really make them much of a private tracker then does it? Or should every tracker get rid of this silly invite system and just open registrations already ?

[sheela]

Without having read all the comments i'd like to make an input without getting into the above crossfire;

I do agree at some points with you IdolEyes. Although, you still have to put in consideration that these trackers, even though they are 'private' aren't as private as some of them would like to be.

With the enourmous interest from people who don't know anything about trackers, what they do or provide or even what they stand for - and then hear from somewhere that tracker A is much better than tracker B some sort of curiosity comes up.

And also there are som who's been using e.g. Tracker B for three years, and now that person realises that Tracker B isn't sufficient for his needs, where will he go to be provided with the information he needs?

From my point of view 'everyone' is needed to create a good tracker, but of course there's always some rotten eggs....

[cinephilia]

It just boils down to this: "if you want something back from us (membership at our site) then respect our rules". Simple. Whether you agree or disagree with the wishes of a tracker is not really that significant, because many people have ALL sots of views on it (and seeming moral justifications for BOTH sides of the spectrum).

What I'm curoius at IdolEyes, is are you going to do anything about it or did you just open discussion about it?

Either way, I don't think anything at FST will change - everyone loves the hype too much, they love the juicy leaked info too much, the goss, the drama. I am sure FST will never change becuse everyone (sickeningly) loves it, whether openly or secretly.

FST is kinda like our collective guilty pleasure, it's the Soho of the bt world, and although I could do without it (and wish its tracker-unfriendly elements didn't exist), I won't hide the fact that I taste of its guilty pleasures just like everybody else does, while it IS here.

But to be staff here is completely different, IdolEyes787...

https://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/p-a-d...18/postcount12

It would save me a lot of time if people actually read my posts *properly* before commenting.

I just SAID myself that FST won't change, lol...I left it open to ANY sort of action that you could take (to put your own philosophies into practice), and what I was more meaning was something like leaving staff, actually. (what else can you do, in terms of taking action [if you DO want to take action)?)

Discussion is nice, even though, er, it's been done to death (and back)...but it's nice to see your view and your concerns. But I wonder if you'll end up leaving staff like Detale...

it's sad how people spend their time ratiocinating/caviling about such insignificant ethical questions like we were talking about a vital matter.
i know this is the kind of attitude a certain fringe of the bt users love to adopt (some veterans torrenters/members of 'cool' private forums) but still, it still get on my nerves.