Banned From What.CD - Questions For Anyone Who Can Help..

[MrLex]

Im sorry, its another one of these threads.
I know it must be annoying having new members pop up with these all the time, but having spent some time here over the last few days Im hoping its not going to be long before Im not a "new" member any more.

My user name on what.cd was: MrLex

---
The Long Story
This whole situation has been impossibly frustrating; ill explain why.

Around the end of last year I was looking hard to try and find an invite to what.cd.
Im a member of a site called LueLinks (you may have heard of it, its basically an invite only
board with a portal for sharing Megaupload links). I had posted several times about how
I was looking for an invite.

A member who I had spoken with on occasion in the past PMed me offering up what seemed like a free invite.
At the time I was pretty damn happy to have found an invite so easily. I honestly knew the guy, but only bearly.
Just through talking on Lue and discussions on the Music board there. This didnt change following the invite.
I would just see his user name from time to time.

Im not a 'big time' downloader but I loved my time at what.cd. I donated, I uploaded and I worked hard on my ratio.
The other day I went online to find my account blocked, and a PM from my old invitee on Lue
(his username was oshi on what.cd).

He told me someone was trying to get at him and that this guy had posted on the boards claiming
oshi had tried to sell him an invite. I went on the IRC room for disabled what.cd accounts and tried to explain
I had no idea what was going on.

They obviously didnt believe me. I spoke with TedMaul the next morning who quizzed me about what I knew
(which honestly is nothing, I only barely know oshi and I had no idea who this other member was or indeed
what the hell had happened).

Anyway it turns out, and honestly I knew nothing about this, that oshi had been lying to me.
He had in fact sold invites (he had even advertised them openly on the Luelinks boards).

I understand how impossible it would be for the admin to believe my story. I never bought an invite,
and I have never once condoned their sale. Oshi frankly is a moran, and I feel betrayed by his stupididity.
I also feel frustrated with myself for having ever taken an invite off of someone I didnt fully know
(but then at the time I had no other option.. to be honest I wish I had known about this place at the time).

I have almost no way of proving my innocence in this matter. The only thing I can do is post up screenshots
of the PM blog from January when oshi (or Secular Blasphemy as hes called on Lue) offered me the invite
(and I understand that even these could have been faked).

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/lexlluthor/PMBlog.png
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/lexlluthor/PMBlog2.png
----

The Questions
Basically what Im asking is if anyone has any suggestions as to what I should do next.
If there is any process I could undergo in order to try and prove my worth and get my account back
(I have never in my life been kicked from a website and this whole thing is pretty distressing).

What.cd seems big on honesty, and how banned users should try and always tell the truth.
This is the approach I have taken, and so far it hasnt worked out so great for me.

[sez]

OMARION-ICEBOX (PROD. BY TIMBALAND)

fussin' and fightin' I know that, it's my fault, but you don't understand (no)
I got memories, this is crazy
You ain't nothing like the girl I used to know
Good with ma, good with pa, cool with all my niggas
I should try to decide,wanna let u in, but no
That means memories, and it's crazy
You ain't nothing like the girl I used to know
[Bridge]
Girl I really wanna work this out, cause I'm tired of fightin'
And I really hope you still want me the way I want you
I said I really wanna work this out, damn girl I'm tryin'
It's no excuse, no excuse
But I got this
[Chorus 2x]
I got this icebox where my heart used to be (but I got this)
I got this icebox where my heart used to be (said I got this)
I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold
I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold
Why can't I get it right, just can't let it go
I opened up, she let me down, I won't feel that no more
I got memories, this is crazy
She ain't nothing like the girl I used to know
I don't mean to take it out on you baby but I can't help it
'Cause my heart is in the same ol' condition that baby left it
And I, I apologize, for makin' you cry
Look me in my eye and promise you won't do me the same
[Bridge]
Girl I really wanna work this out, 'cause I'm tired of fightin'
And I really hope you still want me the way I want you
I said I really wanna work this out, damn girl I'm tryin'
It's no excuse, no excuse
But I got this
[Chorus 2x]
I got this icebox where my heart used to be (but I got this)
I got this icebox where my heart used to be (said I got this)
I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold
I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold
I don't wanna be stuck up in this cold cold world ('cause I don't wanna be) [2x]
Don't wanna mess this up better keep your eye on me girl [6x]
[Bridge]
Girl I really wanna work this out, cause I'm tired of fightin'
And I really hope you still want me the way I want you
I said I really wanna work this out, damn girl I'm tryin'
It's no excuse, no excuse
But I got this
[Chorus 2x]
I got this icebox where my heart used to be (but I got this)
I got this icebox where my heart used to be (said I got this)
I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold
I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold

I feel your vibe and i think I can buy it,though i it does get lame somewhere in the middle .At some point on that forum,you probably knew he was a seller/trader and obviously(assuming you are not a dummy)chose not to rat yourself like some idiot would.

[kukushka]

sometimes it can be a pure bad luck, to find yourself within a tree of invite seller, it's totally unfortunate. that's why whenever possible i try to use open signups or invites from staff. since you don't have any reputation in bt world, they don't have nothing to be based on to believe you.. so basically, if they don't want you at all, even through passing an interview like somw possible new members do at their irc, there's not much you can do while keeping your consiense clear. the only reasonable variant - try to join waffles, they're about 2 times smaller, but still it's a good alternative

ps ah. looking at the screen, you have waffles. hopefully, not from the same person :)

[susiserken]

He was busted selling what.cd invites therefor he and probably his hole invite tree was banned due to that. Its pretty common when it comes to traders and invite sellers.

[Duckater]

It is so kind of you to share your email address with every one as well as getting banned from what looks like you can be prepaired for some spam mail now :lol:

[Raban]

dude that gmail screenshot has your real full name on it are you sure you want that information just floating around on internets... you never know what bad men are out there...

[Bad-Day]

where is the short version off this ?

i will not read this!! i won´t!!!

[Night0wl]

tl;dr his inviter was an invite seller, tree banned

[Bad-Day]

Right On!


thanks Night0wl

[MrLex]

Yeah well I guess it just sucks for me.
But damn, what a pain in the face.
I dont like how I was treated like a bit of an asshole during all of this.
I can understand why the what staff wouldn't be able to trust me but hanging around in that Disabled Accounts IRC room you seriously lose a little faith in humanity. Haha.

Does anyone know if this ban is going to be an IP ban or not?

(Oh and I took that one picture down. I didnt really think to the possibility that people would be looking through images for emails and junk).

[Cabalo]

Does anyone know if this ban is going to be an IP ban or not?
why the question? planning on getting a new account soon? whoever invites you, is fucked by the way.

[Hombre]

i think they should start a global ban on you, because you are dangerous to the BT world, as you associated with invite sellers in the first place, and this thread is probably you trying to cover your ass so that the big dogs wont come after you and expel you from BT 4ever. you are not to be trusted and who knows you also dont do monkey business with your invites. A global ban might come in order for you and the whole tree.

[Albo Da Kid]

killercam let it go bro:lol:.. i know you're dying to post but you dont wanna betray or offend your friends by posting in Fst.. We miss you in here and I know you miss this place too. I don''t think your humor was ever appreciatted anywhere else on the level that it was appreciatted here

[MrLex]

i think they should start a global ban on you, because you are dangerous to the BT world, as you associated with invite sellers in the first place, and this thread is probably you trying to cover your ass so that the big dogs wont come after you and expel you from BT 4ever. you are not to be trusted and who knows you also dont do monkey business with your invites. A global ban might come in order for you and the whole tree.

Ouch man. Pretty harsh dont you think.
Did you read my post..? I guess your calling me an outright liar.
Its a pretty terrible situation that I was unfortunate to find myself in. As much as I do live in fear of big dogs hunting me down "4ever", I think my track record as a worth while contributor, uploader and poster are just fine.

[Night0wl]

The odds of getting your account back are not in your favor. You are a member of Waffles so just continue being a good contributing member there. People usually prefer one over the other, but given the light of circumstances you really have no choice.

Waffles is nicer anyway ;)

[MrLex]

Does anyone know if this ban is going to be an IP ban or not?
why the question? planning on getting a new account soon? whoever invites you, is fucked by the way.

This is what I was basically asking.
Not necessarily would it be possible to start a new account with this IP address, but is it strictly forbidden now that I ever do so. I guess your post answers my question though.


The odds of getting your account back are not in your favor. You are a member of Waffles so just continue being a good contributing member there. People usually prefer one over the other, but given the light of circumstances you really have no choice.

Waffles is nicer anyway ;)

Thanks for the advice.
I guess this is what I'll probably just do.
(luckly I got the invite from someone slightly less sketchy this time around).

[cabedna]

Same thing (in a nutshell) happened to me.

My advice, too bad too sad.

Here's the thing about What.cd. And I mean this in the nicest way possible, so don't confuse my point. 80% of the admins there have some sort of issue. Some of them are on an ego trip, some are paranoid, others are very elitist. Some have all of these problems.

During my time there I dealt with quite a few of them. I will say in all fairness that some of them are VERY nice people. But sadly, and I'm just stating my opinion here, a lot of them are rude, egotistical, and elitist.

When I was banned from there (on false pretenses), the admin I talked to called me a liar and I was given no appeal. Later I was offered a fresh invite by one of the (nice) admins but I turned it down. I didn't have it in my heart to return to a tracker where so many of the admins used hostility and pedestal standing as a crutch. No matter how good the content.

I just want to say, if any What.cd members are offended by this post, that there are some VERY kind guys over there. Not a lot of them, but they ARE there. And I thank you few dudes for doing what you do.

[Rart]

There's nothing you can really do, nothing can really solidly prove that you "really" didn't buy/trade an invite from him.

I don't think you should be enraged when people call (or indirectly) call you a liar. As you are well aware from your post, people that come here with a new account and complain about a ban are a dime a dozen. Anyone could make up an excuse like this, and the majority probably are lying. As a result, it's very difficult to trust anyone who could be telling the truth.

And your comment about whether its an IP ban raises suspicion. You should know better than to try to create dupe accounts, it doesn't help your case at all.

But as said, you lucked out. Your inviter was a seller/trader. There's almost no way to prove/disprove what you are saying, and any torrent site will have a strict stance on traders and their invite trees. Your best bet would probably be waffles, but there is a fountain of content at DDL/usenet too, I always didn't think it was worth the effort to try to maintain a ratio at those sites.

[TP635]

I was disabled from What for a far lesser 'crime'. The person that invited me (via PM in this forum) was suspected of giving away invites (which he never did). That was over a year ago.

[kukushka]

Here's the thing about What.cd. And I mean this in the nicest way possible, so don't confuse my point. 80% of the admins there have some sort of issue. Some of them are on an ego trip, some are paranoid, others are very elitist. Some have all of these problems.

there's nothing new about it in bt world, the only thing is the balance at this particular tracker has changed over the time and those who weren't prepare for it, had an unpleasant surprise one way or another.

[The_Martinator]

sometimes it can be a pure bad luck, to find yourself within a tree of invite seller, it's totally unfortunate. that's why whenever possible i try to use open signups or invites from staff. since you don't have any reputation in bt world, they don't have nothing to be based on to believe you.. so basically, if they don't want you at all, even through passing an interview like somw possible new members do at their irc, there's not much you can do while keeping your consiense clear. the only reasonable variant - try to join waffles, they're about 2 times smaller, but still it's a good alternative

ps ah. looking at the screen, you have waffles. hopefully, not from the same person :)

That's probably the best advice in this thread. Don't just jump at the oportunity when someone offers you an invite. Especially if you don't know him. If a staffer invites you, chances are he's not gonna get banned ;).

To conclude, accept invites from people you know (this is relative online) or staffers only.

[Six66Mike]

TedMaul is a force of nature sent to this planet to ban those who stray from the rules set forth on the site.

<3 Ted, please don't hurt me :D

[cinephilia]

To conclude, accept invites from people you know (this is relative online) or staffers only.
some time ago, a staffer from waffles got banned for selling invites :happy:

[The_Martinator]

To conclude, accept invites from people you know (this is relative online) or staffers only.
some time ago, a staffer from waffles got banned for selling invites :happy:

Sure and a staffer at PTM was a trader or something. But chances are still smaller of you getting fu**ed. Agreed?

[cinephilia]

chances are smaller but is it worth seeking for being invited by a staffer, knowing that it can be a long quest ? i don't think so.

[The_Martinator]

chances are smaller but is it worth seeking for being invited by a staffer, knowing that it can be a long quest ? i don't think so.

A long quest only here at FST. At some other place it's the shortest way (exept for a few trackers which can be found on several invite sections of trackers' forums). With a little effort one can be invited to most trackers by their staffers.

PS: By a little effort I don't mean asskissing. I have also not been invited everywhere by staff. Come to think of it, I've been invited to What.cd a long time ago by my own countryman, which is odd, tbh.

[IdolEyes787]

I went the donation route to get into IPT because I didn't feel safe getting an invite from here. I also irced to get into secretcinema and I never irc.

[Duckater]

I went the donation route to get into IPT because I didn't feel safe getting an invite from here. I also irced to get into secretcinema and I never irc.

I would never donate to get into a site, but thats just me, sounds like buying an invite from owner in some ways :)

[IdolEyes787]

Given the alternatives of either getting an invite from someone I didn't know or imposing on the good will of a friend it was the lesser of evils in my opinion.

[lisabritpop]

I went the donation route to get into IPT because I didn't feel safe getting an invite from here. I also irced to get into secretcinema and I never irc.

I would never donate to get into a site, but thats just me, sounds like buying an invite from owner in some ways :)

why not regard it as a helpful way to support the tracker:happy:

[Duckater]

Just personal preference I guess, also why donate to a tracker you do not know will be some where you will use regulary?
Not saying its wrong or right to donate to get into a tracker but it personal choice of the tracker and person donating.

[Cabalo]

chances are smaller but is it worth seeking for being invited by a staffer, knowing that it can be a long quest ? i don't think so.
you're asking the wrong person mate. :pinch:

[cinephilia]

ps: By a little effort i don't mean asskissing.
:d

[Cabalo]

PS: By a little effort I don't mean asskissing.
sure... good you clarified that point. :rolleyes:

[The_Martinator]

PS: By a little effort I don't mean asskissing.
sure... good you clarified that point. :rolleyes:
:lol:

[WhatMan]

Hey MrLex,

See, the thing is, we as staff members deal with a lot of invite sellers. We know quite a bit about their business model, including diversionary tactics, injections of plausible deniability, and a "don't admit to anything in the disabled channel and I'll send you another invite" clause. The great amount of discouragement invite buyers get from telling the truth makes it extremely difficult to trust anyone invited by a known seller.

In your case, the person who invited you was selling invites on the exact same board. While it's possible that you didn't buy the invite yourself, it is difficult to believe that you didn't know it was going on. You underestimate the amount of time and effort you could have saved everyone had you simply reported him. As such, I agree with TedMaul's decision to leave you disabled.

Now, in response to this:


Here's the thing about What.cd. And I mean this in the nicest way possible, so don't confuse my point. 80% of the admins there have some sort of issue. Some of them are on an ego trip, some are paranoid, others are very elitist. Some have all of these problems.

It may seem that way to someone who was banned from the tracker, I'll warrant that. But becoming staff on our site is hard. You have to demonstrate hard work, commitment and all those things, but the most serious thing that we look for is whether or not you're a cool dude.

Look at it this way. You're staff on a site. You devote 90% of your free time to a hundred thousand people you've never met. What does this entail? This entails deleting and editing torrents uploaded by stupid/malicious people to keep the torrent quality high. This includes moderating the forums to keep the community from degenerating into 4chan. This includes keeping the members of the site safe from possible arrests. And this includes, instead of simply glining or ignoring people who have been disabled the way many other trackers do, running a very busy channel where they can come to speak directly to staff members.

Now, imagine you had a job where you had to spend 6+ hours a day being lied to by scumbags who don't give a shit about everything you've worked for. This is what running the disabled channel and talking to hit and runners, traders, sellers, and cheaters all day is like.

How long do you think you'd last in that job, before you lost faith in humanity and suffered from a mental breakdown?

If you're like most people, you'd probably last a couple weeks. Now, imagine being a What.CD staffer, where you have to deal with this every day, during your free time, for months and months. Do you have any idea how cool you have to be in order to do all this, without being compensated at all, and not start tearing your hair out?

The paranoia comment you made is probably true. Our paranoia isn't unwarranted though - arrests for running sites like this may seem surreal to you, but they're very much a part of our realities as staff members.

But we continue staffing. Why?

Is it because we're elitist? Is it because we're on permanent ego trips? I wouldn't say so.

We do what we do because we believe that the world needs it. We delete transcodes because they harm the quality of the site. We ban cheaters because they harm the site economy. We ban the trees of invite abusers to keep people safe. And we do this, for no reward but the loss of free time and the risk of arrest, because we love the site.

We love the site, we love the music collection, and we love the community that surrounds it all. And we do what we do to keep it all working.

And you call us elitist ego tripping paranoiacs.

I hope I've changed your opinion on the What.CD staff - you may not get that impression when you're in a channel normally frequented by the bane of the torrenting world, but everyone on the What.CD staff is extremely cool. If not, there's no way they'd be able to handle it.

[NZB-BT-RS-FTP]

Hey MrLex,

See, the thing is, we as staff members deal with a lot of invite sellers. We know quite a bit about their business model, including diversionary tactics, injections of plausible deniability, and a "don't admit to anything in the disabled channel and I'll send you another invite" clause. The great amount of discouragement invite buyers get from telling the truth makes it extremely difficult to trust anyone invited by a known seller.

In your case, the person who invited you was selling invites on the exact same board. While it's possible that you didn't buy the invite yourself, it is difficult to believe that you didn't know it was going on. You underestimate the amount of time and effort you could have saved everyone had you simply reported him. As such, I agree with TedMaul's decision to leave you disabled.

Now, in response to this:


Here's the thing about What.cd. And I mean this in the nicest way possible, so don't confuse my point. 80% of the admins there have some sort of issue. Some of them are on an ego trip, some are paranoid, others are very elitist. Some have all of these problems.

It may seem that way to someone who was banned from the tracker, I'll warrant that. But becoming staff on our site is hard. You have to demonstrate hard work, commitment and all those things, but the most serious thing that we look for is whether or not you're a cool dude.

Look at it this way. You're staff on a site. You devote 90% of your free time to a hundred thousand people you've never met. What does this entail? This entails deleting and editing torrents uploaded by stupid/malicious people to keep the torrent quality high. This includes moderating the forums to keep the community from degenerating into 4chan. This includes keeping the members of the site safe from possible arrests. And this includes, instead of simply glining or ignoring people who have been disabled the way many other trackers do, running a very busy channel where they can come to speak directly to staff members.

Now, imagine you had a job where you had to spend 6+ hours a day being lied to by scumbags who don't give a shit about everything you've worked for. This is what running the disabled channel and talking to hit and runners, traders, sellers, and cheaters all day is like.

How long do you think you'd last in that job, before you lost faith in humanity and suffered from a mental breakdown?

If you're like most people, you'd probably last a couple weeks. Now, imagine being a What.CD staffer, where you have to deal with this every day, during your free time, for months and months. Do you have any idea how cool you have to be in order to do all this, without being compensated at all, and not start tearing your hair out?

The paranoia comment you made is probably true. Our paranoia isn't unwarranted though - arrests for running sites like this may seem surreal to you, but they're very much a part of our realities as staff members.

But we continue staffing. Why?

Is it because we're elitist? Is it because we're on permanent ego trips? I wouldn't say so.

We do what we do because we believe that the world needs it. We delete transcodes because they harm the quality of the site. We ban cheaters because they harm the site economy. We ban the trees of invite abusers to keep people safe. And we do this, for no reward but the loss of free time and the risk of arrest, because we love the site.

We love the site, we love the music collection, and we love the community that surrounds it all. And we do what we do to keep it all working.

And you call us elitist ego tripping paranoiacs.

I hope I've changed your opinion on the What.CD staff - you may not get that impression when you're in a channel normally frequented by the bane of the torrenting world, but everyone on the What.CD staff is extremely cool. If not, there's no way they'd be able to handle it.


Wow very excellent explanation i commend you sir:01:

[OlegL]

In your case, the person who invited you was selling invites on the exact same board. While it's possible that you didn't buy the invite yourself, it is difficult to believe that you didn't know it was going on. You underestimate the amount of time and effort you could have saved everyone had you simply reported him. As such, I agree with TedMaul's decision to leave you disabled.


Even if it's true that MrLex bought the invite, can't you forgive him for that? I know that invite selling/buying is forbidden by the what.cd rules, but if MrLex was an excellent member in every other respect, why can't you forgive him? Also, it's a fact that we can't be 100 % sure whether he's lying or telling the truth about what he knew about his inviter.

[Duckater]

In your case, the person who invited you was selling invites on the exact same board. While it's possible that you didn't buy the invite yourself, it is difficult to believe that you didn't know it was going on. You underestimate the amount of time and effort you could have saved everyone had you simply reported him. As such, I agree with TedMaul's decision to leave you disabled.


Even if it's true that MrLex bought the invite, can't you forgive him for that? I know that invite selling/buying is forbidden by the what.cd rules, but if MrLex was an excellent member in every other respect, why can't you forgive him? Also, it's a fact that we can't be 100 % sure whether he's lying or telling the truth about what he knew about his inviter.


So let MrLex back then any oe banned will be able say well you let MrLex back and he did worse than me. Site staff would have more trouble for that than by keeping to rules clearly stated :)
It is not as tho whatcd are the only tracker with that rule it is a quiet common rule on trackers :)

[OlegL]

So let MrLex back then any oe banned will be able say well you let MrLex back and he did worse than me.

Really? Somebody was banned from what.cd for a lesser crime than the one that MrLex presumably committed?

[IdolEyes787]

The paranoia comment you made is probably true. Our paranoia isn't unwarranted though - arrests for running sites like this may seem surreal to you, but they're very much a part of our realities as staff members.

:yup:

http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=jx48r6187kw82358&size=smaller

[cinephilia]

nice one Idoleyes - we have a variant in french:

"ce n'est pas parce qu'ils disent que vous êtes paranoïaque que vous n'êtes pas suivi"

"just because they say you're paranoid doesn't mean you're not being followed"

[LubTheStaringCat]

Hey MrLex,

See, the thing is, we as staff members deal with a lot of invite sellers. We know quite a bit about their business model, including diversionary tactics, injections of plausible deniability, and a "don't admit to anything in the disabled channel and I'll send you another invite" clause. The great amount of discouragement invite buyers get from telling the truth makes it extremely difficult to trust anyone invited by a known seller.

In your case, the person who invited you was selling invites on the exact same board. While it's possible that you didn't buy the invite yourself, it is difficult to believe that you didn't know it was going on. You underestimate the amount of time and effort you could have saved everyone had you simply reported him. As such, I agree with TedMaul's decision to leave you disabled.

Now, in response to this:


Here's the thing about What.cd. And I mean this in the nicest way possible, so don't confuse my point. 80% of the admins there have some sort of issue. Some of them are on an ego trip, some are paranoid, others are very elitist. Some have all of these problems.

It may seem that way to someone who was banned from the tracker, I'll warrant that. But becoming staff on our site is hard. You have to demonstrate hard work, commitment and all those things, but the most serious thing that we look for is whether or not you're a cool dude.

Look at it this way. You're staff on a site. You devote 90% of your free time to a hundred thousand people you've never met. What does this entail? This entails deleting and editing torrents uploaded by stupid/malicious people to keep the torrent quality high. This includes moderating the forums to keep the community from degenerating into 4chan. This includes keeping the members of the site safe from possible arrests. And this includes, instead of simply glining or ignoring people who have been disabled the way many other trackers do, running a very busy channel where they can come to speak directly to staff members.

Now, imagine you had a job where you had to spend 6+ hours a day being lied to by scumbags who don't give a shit about everything you've worked for. This is what running the disabled channel and talking to hit and runners, traders, sellers, and cheaters all day is like.

How long do you think you'd last in that job, before you lost faith in humanity and suffered from a mental breakdown?

If you're like most people, you'd probably last a couple weeks. Now, imagine being a What.CD staffer, where you have to deal with this every day, during your free time, for months and months. Do you have any idea how cool you have to be in order to do all this, without being compensated at all, and not start tearing your hair out?

The paranoia comment you made is probably true. Our paranoia isn't unwarranted though - arrests for running sites like this may seem surreal to you, but they're very much a part of our realities as staff members.

But we continue staffing. Why?

Is it because we're elitist? Is it because we're on permanent ego trips? I wouldn't say so.

We do what we do because we believe that the world needs it. We delete transcodes because they harm the quality of the site. We ban cheaters because they harm the site economy. We ban the trees of invite abusers to keep people safe. And we do this, for no reward but the loss of free time and the risk of arrest, because we love the site.

We love the site, we love the music collection, and we love the community that surrounds it all. And we do what we do to keep it all working.

And you call us elitist ego tripping paranoiacs.

I hope I've changed your opinion on the What.CD staff - you may not get that impression when you're in a channel normally frequented by the bane of the torrenting world, but everyone on the What.CD staff is extremely cool. If not, there's no way they'd be able to handle it.

Well done...Well said, "WhatMan" I commend you for your explanation.
Impressive :)

[cabedna]

Hey MrLex,

See, the thing is, we as staff members deal with a lot of invite sellers. We know quite a bit about their business model, including diversionary tactics, injections of plausible deniability, and a "don't admit to anything in the disabled channel and I'll send you another invite" clause. The great amount of discouragement invite buyers get from telling the truth makes it extremely difficult to trust anyone invited by a known seller.

In your case, the person who invited you was selling invites on the exact same board. While it's possible that you didn't buy the invite yourself, it is difficult to believe that you didn't know it was going on. You underestimate the amount of time and effort you could have saved everyone had you simply reported him. As such, I agree with TedMaul's decision to leave you disabled.

Now, in response to this:


Here's the thing about What.cd. And I mean this in the nicest way possible, so don't confuse my point. 80% of the admins there have some sort of issue. Some of them are on an ego trip, some are paranoid, others are very elitist. Some have all of these problems.

It may seem that way to someone who was banned from the tracker, I'll warrant that. But becoming staff on our site is hard. You have to demonstrate hard work, commitment and all those things, but the most serious thing that we look for is whether or not you're a cool dude.

Look at it this way. You're staff on a site. You devote 90% of your free time to a hundred thousand people you've never met. What does this entail? This entails deleting and editing torrents uploaded by stupid/malicious people to keep the torrent quality high. This includes moderating the forums to keep the community from degenerating into 4chan. This includes keeping the members of the site safe from possible arrests. And this includes, instead of simply glining or ignoring people who have been disabled the way many other trackers do, running a very busy channel where they can come to speak directly to staff members.

Now, imagine you had a job where you had to spend 6+ hours a day being lied to by scumbags who don't give a shit about everything you've worked for. This is what running the disabled channel and talking to hit and runners, traders, sellers, and cheaters all day is like.

How long do you think you'd last in that job, before you lost faith in humanity and suffered from a mental breakdown?

If you're like most people, you'd probably last a couple weeks. Now, imagine being a What.CD staffer, where you have to deal with this every day, during your free time, for months and months. Do you have any idea how cool you have to be in order to do all this, without being compensated at all, and not start tearing your hair out?

The paranoia comment you made is probably true. Our paranoia isn't unwarranted though - arrests for running sites like this may seem surreal to you, but they're very much a part of our realities as staff members.

But we continue staffing. Why?

Is it because we're elitist? Is it because we're on permanent ego trips? I wouldn't say so.

We do what we do because we believe that the world needs it. We delete transcodes because they harm the quality of the site. We ban cheaters because they harm the site economy. We ban the trees of invite abusers to keep people safe. And we do this, for no reward but the loss of free time and the risk of arrest, because we love the site.

We love the site, we love the music collection, and we love the community that surrounds it all. And we do what we do to keep it all working.

And you call us elitist ego tripping paranoiacs.

I hope I've changed your opinion on the What.CD staff - you may not get that impression when you're in a channel normally frequented by the bane of the torrenting world, but everyone on the What.CD staff is extremely cool. If not, there's no way they'd be able to handle it.

I should probably clarify some things.

-You seem like a pretty nice dude in your own right. But if your definition of "cool" is being rude in irc, being apprehensive about very MINOR torrent details that don't even violate the rules, and being complacent about forum posts that aren't "worthy of time", then I guess the guys I came into contact with are real cool. Maybe I just had REALLY bad luck with the guys I came in contact with. But on the other hand, all my friends on What.cd agree with me on all those points. So apparently not. But you know that 20% of the staff I said was nice? That obviously includes you. Perhaps your fellow admins are nice to you, but from what I've seen they look at the "lesser" members with contempt and apprehension.

-You're totally right about the "thankless job" thing. I can understand that completely. Obviously not all your partners will be able to keep it together as well as someone like you all the time. So maybe the "good" admins like you should start keeping closer watch on the ones who treat the site more like a game than a job.

-And about that...it IS a job. Not a game. One problem with a lot of the What.cd admins I dealt with (especially in IRC) was that they acted like the whole situation was a game where they would win no matter what. Sort of like the book Catch 22. (No matter what you say to me, you are wrong and you will be banned/turned down/put down.)

-I'm sure every tracker thinks they have cool admins. And despite everything I said above, you probably still know better than me just on principle. But the reality is that most trackers don't have cool admins. Helpful? Maybe. Knowledgable? Usually. Cool and nice? Well, I guess only a few trackers win that one.

I hope you don't mind me saying this, because What.cd is a cut above the rest in many aspects, but IMHO one of your "competing trackers" Waffles.fm has nicer people overall. More helpful? Perhaps not. But at least they try and don't call you a fool.

Buy hey man, you are obviously a hard worker over there and all this is just small talk. So don't take any of that too hard. You work for a good tracker that has a lot going for it. Just because I don't prefer it doesn't mean it isn't great.

[TP635]

This includes moderating the forums to keep the community from degenerating into 4chan.
What is wrong with that? i love 4chan and wish that tracker's forum are like 4chan:D

[soulreaper]

Hey MrLex,

See, the thing is, we as staff members deal with a lot of invite sellers. We know quite a bit about their business model, including diversionary tactics, injections of plausible deniability, and a "don't admit to anything in the disabled channel and I'll send you another invite" clause. The great amount of discouragement invite buyers get from telling the truth makes it extremely difficult to trust anyone invited by a known seller.

In your case, the person who invited you was selling invites on the exact same board. While it's possible that you didn't buy the invite yourself, it is difficult to believe that you didn't know it was going on. You underestimate the amount of time and effort you could have saved everyone had you simply reported him. As such, I agree with TedMaul's decision to leave you disabled.

Now, in response to this:


Here's the thing about What.cd. And I mean this in the nicest way possible, so don't confuse my point. 80% of the admins there have some sort of issue. Some of them are on an ego trip, some are paranoid, others are very elitist. Some have all of these problems.

It may seem that way to someone who was banned from the tracker, I'll warrant that. But becoming staff on our site is hard. You have to demonstrate hard work, commitment and all those things, but the most serious thing that we look for is whether or not you're a cool dude.

Look at it this way. You're staff on a site. You devote 90% of your free time to a hundred thousand people you've never met. What does this entail? This entails deleting and editing torrents uploaded by stupid/malicious people to keep the torrent quality high. This includes moderating the forums to keep the community from degenerating into 4chan. This includes keeping the members of the site safe from possible arrests. And this includes, instead of simply glining or ignoring people who have been disabled the way many other trackers do, running a very busy channel where they can come to speak directly to staff members.

Now, imagine you had a job where you had to spend 6+ hours a day being lied to by scumbags who don't give a shit about everything you've worked for. This is what running the disabled channel and talking to hit and runners, traders, sellers, and cheaters all day is like.

How long do you think you'd last in that job, before you lost faith in humanity and suffered from a mental breakdown?

If you're like most people, you'd probably last a couple weeks. Now, imagine being a What.CD staffer, where you have to deal with this every day, during your free time, for months and months. Do you have any idea how cool you have to be in order to do all this, without being compensated at all, and not start tearing your hair out?

The paranoia comment you made is probably true. Our paranoia isn't unwarranted though - arrests for running sites like this may seem surreal to you, but they're very much a part of our realities as staff members.

But we continue staffing. Why?

Is it because we're elitist? Is it because we're on permanent ego trips? I wouldn't say so.

We do what we do because we believe that the world needs it. We delete transcodes because they harm the quality of the site. We ban cheaters because they harm the site economy. We ban the trees of invite abusers to keep people safe. And we do this, for no reward but the loss of free time and the risk of arrest, because we love the site.

We love the site, we love the music collection, and we love the community that surrounds it all. And we do what we do to keep it all working.

And you call us elitist ego tripping paranoiacs.

I hope I've changed your opinion on the What.CD staff - you may not get that impression when you're in a channel normally frequented by the bane of the torrenting world, but everyone on the What.CD staff is extremely cool. If not, there's no way they'd be able to handle it.

That was very informative. Just one question, if MrLex wasn't guilty of buying an invite but became a good user on what, why can't he be reenabled or better yet invite him yourself? Just a thought..:unsure:

[Duckater]

That was very informative. Just one question, if MrLex wasn't guilty of buying an invite but became a good user on what, why can't he be reenabled or better yet invite him yourself? Just a thought..:unsure:


The problem with this is thaqt one or the other proving that an invite was bought or given is next to impossible. Any invite seller will deny they sold the invites and if some one buys one they will not admit it. On the other side it is also impossible for the tracker to prove they did buy it.
Hence why when some on is proved to sell invites the whole tree goes as any one of the people in the tree could have bought their invites and there is a slight chance they will then sell invites they get to get the money back they paid to get in :)

[Toodles]

This is the downside of making shortcuts. You either become friends and spend time to make a name for yourself and get invited everywhere because you deserve it or you trade, buy, ask in public for invites or any other way that creates situations like this.

"The way you make your bed is the way you will sleep"

[IdolEyes787]

See I believe this is the exact type of attitude that is hurting bt . "Making a name for yourself" and "deserving it"?

[SonsOfLiberty]

See I believe this is the exact type of attitude that is hurting bt . "Making a name for yourself" and "deserving it"?

I hate BT and I do agree there, very well put.....I hate BT, because every person I ever meat at a torrent site think they deserve something or are better than you....I'll stay on my geeky Usenet and let BT take all the heat, BT thinks itself a god/and some users too using BT, but your/you people are only making a "bigger" target for yourself, don't know about you, but I'd rather not have the heat lying in my made bed.

[ca_aok]

I should probably clarify some things.

-You seem like a pretty nice dude in your own right. But if your definition of "cool" is being rude in irc, being apprehensive about very MINOR torrent details that don't even violate the rules, and being complacent about forum posts that aren't "worthy of time", then I guess the guys I came into contact with are real cool. Maybe I just had REALLY bad luck with the guys I came in contact with. But on the other hand, all my friends on What.cd agree with me on all those points. So apparently not. But you know that 20% of the staff I said was nice? That obviously includes you. Perhaps your fellow admins are nice to you, but from what I've seen they look at the "lesser" members with contempt and apprehension.
Having probably had more interaction with their staff than you, that's not my experience whatsoever. They take pride in their site and do their best to keep it running. If I was staff on a site with 100K members I wouldn't give a crap about some bull excuses from an invite buyer, especially when you hear the exact same excuses 7 days a week. As for looking down on "lesser" members, I've never seen contempt shown for anyone that isn't getting hit with the banhammer. Personally I'd say there's more contempt shown between user class levels than between the staff and the regular members.


-And about that...it IS a job. Not a game. One problem with a lot of the What.cd admins I dealt with (especially in IRC) was that they acted like the whole situation was a game where they would win no matter what. Sort of like the book Catch 22. (No matter what you say to me, you are wrong and you will be banned/turned down/put down.)
The internet is srs business. As for being sure they'd win no matter what... it's their site and in the end, they decide whether you stay or go. To that end, they do win no matter what.


-I'm sure every tracker thinks they have cool admins. And despite everything I said above, you probably still know better than me just on principle. But the reality is that most trackers don't have cool admins. Helpful? Maybe. Knowledgable? Usually. Cool and nice? Well, I guess only a few trackers win that one.
If you spent more time in their help channel rather than their disabled channel, perhaps you'd see this in a different light.


I hope you don't mind me saying this, because What.cd is a cut above the rest in many aspects, but IMHO one of your "competing trackers" Waffles.fm has nicer people overall. More helpful? Perhaps not. But at least they try and don't call you a fool.
I've seen despicable things happen to people's accounts at Waffles, including spur of the moment bans for posts that barely warranted a warn. So if this is happening, I'd say it happens across the board.

The moral of the story here is that given the circumstances, there's no way he'd get his account back. Invites being sold on the very same board where he happened to receive a PM giving him one for free? That's stretching the limits of plausibility right there. And as for the staff hate, it seems to be a common theme here that the banned folks like to complain here, often behind fake usernames, about the staff on various sites. If you get banned, pick yourself up and move on. We're at a point in bittorrent now where we have multiple sites for every type of content, no need to get tied down to one.


See I believe this is the exact type of attitude that is hurting bt . "Making a name for yourself" and "deserving it"?
I always think these are really funny phrases when I see them, however I understand the underlying message. Would you rather invite someone you've seen elsewhere that you know won't be a total idiot, or some random stranger that turns out to troll worse than Swepsycho? And yes, this might lead to a lack of diversity of opinion on certain torrent sites, but it beats getting your account disabled when it turns out the guy you invited from a request thread at FST turns out to be a ratio cheater and gets your entire invite tree banned.