Are trackers staffs taking profits from donation ?

[fstokebanget]

Just wonder, even they said that all the donations would go the the server maintenance, but I still think that some of the donations is going to their own pocket. What do you think ? Or maybe I'm wrong.

[mrnobody]

some tracker....yes, but i wouldn't point out what tracker those are.

[predateur]

i think one of BCG staff yes :)

[arkiebrian]

Naw...they wouldn't do that!

:noes:

(sarcasm)

[maul1515]

I assume some are since many tracker reach over 100% donations every month but it does take a lot of work running a tracker. Think of it as a salary for the owners. :P

[jesper12345]

I think torrent-damage is the most greedy... and basically all popular trackers with p2l. ScT would easily manage server costs without p2l.

[puckface]

If they do, I dont see a problem with it. Lots of time and effort go into coding and security and moderation and all that, a little pay for the effort isnt a bad thing if you are so lucky.

[fOrUmAs]

Just wonder, even they said that all the donations would go the the server maintenance, but I still think that some of the donations is going to their own pocket. What do you think ? Or maybe I'm wrong.

yes they are taking profit from donations,and not just from donations..but we all know which sites are pay2leech anyway

[Swax]

ScT would easily manage server costs without p2l.

err...they didn't once upon a time :ermm: hence the change

[mrnobody]

they say ST owner bought Lexus with donation :lol:

http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/f-bittorrent-43/t-supertorrents-263147

[TheFoX]

The donation market fluctuates...

Christmas time is always a poor time for donations, simply because your saving your pennies to buy Aunty Irene and Uncle Bob that present you felt would be ideal for them.

The height of Summer is also a dead spot for donations, because you would be thinking of how much you need to spend when you visit the Bahamas.

With that in mind, trackers get more donations during the quieter parts of the year, which they often put aside into a backup fund, to counter to times when donations are short.

That's not to say that some places don't earn from donations, because they do, but the majority of small communities break even, and I even know of communities that shut down because they were always under funded (no community can live on the charity of it's SysOp/Owner indefinitely, otherwise that means one or two are carrying the burden for many, when it should be shared).

[ScreaminJay]

aa

[Tokeman]

While I don't agree with trackers asking for more then they need, if there happens to be extra (More donations recieved then usual, or got a credit on server costs for customer satisfaction from hosting company, or something similar to this) then I don't really care what they do with it. They made the site, and its theirs to do with as they please. If you don't like it, don't donate, its just that simple.
Of course these trackers that PM everyone every few weeks asking for more then they really need makes me mad. If the users don't feel inclined to donate, maybe the site should just die.

[sleepyy]

Just wonder, even they said that all the donations would go the the server maintenance, but I still think that some of the donations is going to their own pocket. What do you think ? Or maybe I'm wrong.


Ask yourself the same question.

Imagine you had a popular site with donations being on time regularly and popular enough to feed the bills more than what is needed what would you do?

There is your answer if you don't agree ask some of your family and you would notice what the majority of the people would do.

[fstokebanget]

hehe, so it's true, money is the root of all evil :lol:

[SgtMajor]

Time is money, so if it ends up being a full time employment looking after the tracker, then they should be compensated for that, however just like in all walks of life, the greedy ones make it harder to justify to one and all.

Just have to take the rough with the smooth.

[pandabear]

I think taking money is fair enough, as long as it doesn't effect the site (ie taking money which could be put towards server costs). I mean staff members put a bit of time into the site.

Also i laugh at funfile. Apparently they rent out heaps of servers etc to try boost their sites torrent speeds (kinda like how places like sct manage great speeds due to all their user's seedboxes), but it still sucks.

[JROQuinn]

Why others worry what people do with their money anyway? Does it directly affect you that worry about it except for the effect that you worry about it? Well go to irc & dont worry about it :)

[wrongun92]

Theoretically, and morally, it doesnt sound good for staff to be keeping money for themselves. But if one takes a closer look, time does have a monetary value. Sometimes, being a mod can be time consuming and may seem like a part time job. It can be tough.

I know that some staff on non-torrenting sites use the extra money for contests and other stuff.

Perhaps, the donators want to be aware of how their money is being spent.
It depends on one's outlook on life;)

[ScreaminJay]

aa

[stoi]

$70 a month, your site will last long then.

$1,000 a month is not make believe if you have over 50,000 users and 100,000 peers on a tracker.

I wish it was make believe and it only cost me $70 a month to run this thing, but its not. and it costs that and more.

if your in the USA, cheap yes.

If you have shit Server/s = cheap yes

If you want good servers, anominity, offshore or asian bandwidth even european bandwidth then it costs money, you just have to look at the decent servers on leaseweb and the bw for asian servers (asia is 1mbps max international BW) and extra costs a fortune, and as we are using 2mbps now on just the tracker (yes we do not seed from the servers, that would be folly) and most of our users are western users so that = international bandwith.

and i knew blackats would be mentioned in this somewhere after all the crap, some will believe me, some them, but them have made their own tracker you know. wonder why saying as though the reason they caused a shitstorm was because I WAS NOT PAYING THEM because i COULDNT.

PS: just to add, we do not have 1 ad on the site, we do not have any P2L on the site, we do not have any Gigs for Money on the site, and we havnt for quite some time now.

so if i am supposedly making so much, i wonder how much other trackers are making that have these incentives and have more members than blackcats. Not that i have anything against them for doing it, but why all of a sudden (and for the past 2 years because of tornado from torrentstrike sprouting crap) its all come down to what I do and Blackcats, when we dont have any P2L on the site at all, and VIP is basically the same price as everywhere else, but for a lot less benefits.

[robert03]

Warez by definition means "trading" or nowdays, "sharing". A few years ago, you traded one software for another, simple as that. They did that because there were limited posibilities regarding filesharing.

When technology reached a certain level, people started sharing for FREE on DC networks, FTP sites and such, especially because the purpose of the act was to cause the companies a few problems, and while you're at it, enjoy yourself a bit.
It was not inteded to make a profit out of it, and it'll never be. Well dooh?? What's the difference between a company and such people? Tuhmeytoh.. tə-mā'tō..
The game doesn't change but the rules do. And we do that, no one else.

And heck, if I pay, oh excuse me, I donate, I should be entitled to download until I reach power failure. The ammount I donate should not count because I did you a favour, not the other way around; there's always another site where I can get that for free.
I got burned once, I'll make sure it won't happen again.

Remember, pirating software is free and should remain like that!

[tiolewis]

Are trackers staffs taking profits from donation ?


I dont see anything wrong about it , they work hard .. and we enjoy! :D

[ScreaminJay]

aa

[mrnobody]

If you don't like a site, f**k it off, don't donate.

Site staff work VERY hard till they are established. Ask yourself, how many times have u donated a non-established site or non-promising site? I mean they need money to run their server as well...but till they are established, majority of server cost goes from their pocket.

But once a site has trust of it's user, it gets more donation, and will keep on getting more donation. Think about it this way, they worked their butt off to reach this point...they deserve the "extra" money [if any]. But as thefox said, site get more money some season and less in other....so they still aren't really getting "extra" money.

edit: i am definately against "buying" in the name of "donating". Example:

"donate" [buy] for invite, gb, VIP status etc.

[ScreaminJay]

aa

[pro267]

Are trackers staffs taking profits from donation ?

I dont see anything wrong about it , they work hard .. and we enjoy! :D
Well, some will argue that they're making profit from the labor of others, i.e. the artists/developers which labor is spread by the trackers are not profiting, while the owners of the sites do.

I realize tracker staff are investing time and effort running the tracker, and I don't expect them to lose money for it (although most of them probably do), but I personally have a lot more respect for sites where the donations cover only the server costs and not anything additional. I also feel more inclined to donate to such sites.

[TheFoX]

I'll add some pertinent points here...

1).. Remember that donations are for running the tracker (and seedboxes?), and not for access to content. Access to content should always be free, but every tracker has a right to ask it's members for help in running the community.

2).. We hear about profits being made, and some places to make a small profit. I should point out that if you donate to charity, a percentage is creamed off the top in the name of running costs, and what is left goes to those who are supposed to benefit. Some charities actually pass on as little as 30% of the donated funds, and the execs who run these charities will run their campaigns from their executive houses, and drive to charity events in their Mercedes.

(Don't think for one minute that all charities are honest and above board. I've seen some real rip off charities where the beneficiaries got a very small percentage of the actual take, with the rest being eaten up by these so called 'running costs'.)

3).. People will spend a small fortune on a night out/pub/bar, without batting an eyelid. People will squander money on any triviality they want, yet when it comes to supporting a torrent community, which they profess to need, they are reluctant. The donation isn't for material, but for the effort of keeping such places open (especially the smaller sites).

4).. There is this whole ethos regarding the internet where we want everything to be free. We pay our way in the real world, yet when we are on line, we absolutely abhor paying for anything. If I download an album, and like the content, I will go and buy the album. I use torrents as a preview service. People often go on about how much money the music industry is making (we know they are a profit organisation), but also our local supermarket and public transport also make money. The world revolves around money, and making a profit is considered acceptable. If we spend £100 on shopping at Tescos a week, then purchasing the odd CD here and there will not break the bank. Our attitudes have to change.

5).. There are people who make the effort and go the extra mile to bring you these communities. Servers don't exist with the code already set up. Each community needs a vanilla install, and stylesheets, and other sundries. As time goes on, the site code needs to evolve to keep pace with the current trends. This requires the efforts of at least one person, if not many more. Donating is your way of supporting these people, and showing your gratitude for the efforts they have made on your behalf.

[Vidde]

I don't buy it for one second that tracker staffers can put money into their own pockets because it's a hard job keeping the site alive.
Guess what? Noone, and I mean noone, is forcing them to do it. There isn't a single torrentsite out there maintained by a sysop with a gun to his/her head. Generating hard cash from warez is the biggest no-no in my book, and I seriously hope that greedy ppl are thrown in jail.

Torrentsites are supposed to make enuf money to uphold the site, maybe sceneaxx and seedboxes, nothing more.

I know some sites are keeping the extra cash, just in case of a sudden server move, or in case of frozen PayPal-accounts. I think that's okay, but as soon as you order something expensive for yourself, I find it unethical..

-Vidde

[disconny]

i want a lexus

[bornwithnoname]

I think to a certain extent the sys op and their cronies should be able to profit. I do not think they should be able to afford a lexus with the profits.

[grimms]

they say ST owner bought Lexus with donation :lol:

http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/f-bittorrent-43/t-supertorrents-263147

I hope not. I don't care how much time you spend and hard work you put into your tracker. Buying a car off of donations is plain wrong. Unless you was Oink. Anyways thats my simple two sense. Feel free to spam or flame me if you must..:D

[dythim]

I think sysops should be able to enjoy some profits for the amount of work they do to maintain and keep the tracker/community up so yes. However, as long as the site is up and running, I don't think anyone will complain :)

[jr56]

Torrent sites should not be an avenue for money making :yup:

*cough* empornium/puretna *cough*

[Drachanar]

haha, wow a lexus from a donation =/

[FatBob]

what else can they do with the extra donations ? :D

its ok to make some money from trackers they own because they work hard to keep their tracker online and without the motivation (money ) why would they bother to waste their time for a site :sarcasm:

unless its their hobby !

[Vidde]

It's still not a job, it's nothing they HAVE to do, and most of the tracker staffers got reallife jobs on the side.

Motivation? How about the fact you're running a successful site with lots of happy members :) I really hope they're not doing it for the money..
"Yeah, I'm doing something here, so I _need_ to get something back.." :no:

-Vidde

[Str8ek]

but it's really hard and stressing work for admins, and ther really don't have to do what they're doin'
server/s costs, topsites axx and seedboxes 4 uploaders if site wanna be good at 0-day stuff , reserve in case hardware down or sth...
big site needs really much money... servercosts you can see it's just part of real costs

[lillprinsen]

i think they are taking profit and i dont care, they deserve it.

[Fibre]

I think most Pay4Credit sites profit from donations. I'm all for rewarding staff for their hard work. The question is, how much should they be rewarded with?

[Submission]

The problem isn't that torrent sites are taking money and profiting.

The REAL problem are the RETARDS WHO GIVE THEM MONEY.

[t0mmy]

i've donated to a tracker more then once before, does that make me a retard ._. i wouldnt mind that if some trackers save some money for a rainy day, ie. being taken to court :P

[LordS]

FYI, staff as a whole hardly ever profit from donations.

Paypal accounts are in 1 persons name and usually managed by the owner (aka the person who has his name on the servers). None of the other staff have any idea how much money is actually going into that account or what the real server costs are.

[fstokebanget]

the staffs are worth to be payed for all of their efforts building and maintaining the site for a better community, but taking much more than $2000 per month ??? that's too much

[stoi]

i hoped this had died but as it hasnt.

from personal experience, less then 1% of tracker members actually donate to sites, and thats just donations never mind VIPs. VIPs are probably less than 0.2% of total tracker users on a tracker.

like someone else mentioned you get good months and bad months, but even the good months are less than 1% of all users on the tracker.

Its not like we hold a gun to your head and say donate or else, we dont charge you for entry, you can use the site free of charge until it closes if you wish, if you dont like how much certain trackers are getting, delete your account if you feel that strongly, you dont have to use them.

but dont then turn around and say i pay for Newsgroups and other forms of P2P, as to me thats just hypocritical.

We cant stop people from donating, well we can but if trackers got 0 donations, there wouldnt be any trackers left.

Now im not saying that 0 trackers are making an insane profit, but surely thats their business and the donators that donate to those sites, If you never donate to any sites, then i cant see how you can have any arguments, as you are getting all this for free anyway.

so to me if you dont like it, leave the sites, never use bittorrent again, but like i said from my experience and this is going back 3-4 years as a tracker owner, you are lucky if 1% of your members donate, and im not talking VIP amount either, i mean $1 a month which paypal takes a huge chunk off anyway.

all this XX site make $XXXXX per month isnt getting anyone anywhere, well the MPAA etc are watching and laughing their tits off, they dont need to do anything, bittorrent and the "communities" are ripping themselves apart anyway over this.

[Unstable1]

do i object to torrent site owners making money from donations when i am getting the vast majority of my downloads totally free? no not at all.

do i donate to torrent sites? yes, ive donated to several sites and will continue to do so as and when i can.

if donations keep the site going, then thats all i care about and i dont lose any sleep wondering if profit is being made.

[sanjana]

I believe not all the trackers making profit. Because it is very hard to run the trackers because you always taking risk by doing so. If you help the right community by donating and I believe that will help the community afterall the money is for improvement and to maintain the server that runs the site.