Private File Library At Fst?

[rookiecrd1]

Hi, I have been talking to a guy recently and we were considering setting up a private box which will allow FST members to gain access to certain files privately. Members would be awarded with access to the box through FTP. Only members that contribute to the discussion and help out will be awarded with access. (possibly on a post count basis, or another means.)

I'm not all too familiar with how this works.
What I need is some feedback.

Brian

[Virtualbody1234]

Cool! Would we be able to upload files too?

[4play]

omg one admin asks for copies of ps2 games and the other is now setting up a private warez sever.

:lol:

count me in :01:

[rookiecrd1]

What i need to know, is if this is private does that make it legal? Would FST have a risk of being shut down?

Yes, Upload and Download

[sparsely]

well, you're hosting files, and if they're copyrighted by someone else, then it's still illegal to distribute them.
All you're really doing is removing most of the risk associated with unknown people having access.

[Guillaume]

Originally posted by rookiecrd1@14 July 2004 - 01:50
Hi, I have been talking to a guy recently and we were considering setting up a private box which will allow FST members to gain access to certain files privately. Members would be awarded with access to the box through FTP. Only members that contribute to the discussion and help out will be awarded with access. (possibly on a post count basis, or another means.)

I'm not all too familiar with how this works.
What I need is some feedback.

Brian
:blink: Wouldn't that clash with rule N°7? :unsure:

:P

[4play]

im guessing fst will be alright if its on differnet servers, but the site owner will probably be in big shit. Its gonna be very difficult with a site this large to pick who should have access especially if it is warez.

private still makes it illegal.

[Virtualbody1234]

Originally posted by rookiecrd1@13 July 2004 - 18:56
What i need to know, is if this is private does that make it legal?  Would FST have a risk of being shut down?
I don't think the board could be shut down if it's a separate site. As for it being legal, I guess it would depend on where the ftp server would be located. :rolleyes:

[rookiecrd1]

What I am thinking about doing is making a priovate folder ehre at FSt. Only certain members will have access to the folder and be allowed to access the box for downloads and uploads. Members will be able to gain access by being active, (more then just in the lounge) and helping other, writing guides, etc.

Please give suggestions, feedback, etc.

Brian

[sparsely]

more elititsm?
don't really see the point unless you're privy to pre-release releases of stuff, or you've got things nobody will have anywhere else.
Otherwise, there's no real advantage over the file-sharing networks.
If you want to eliminate the risk (for the site) host a tracker instead, and allow those "special" :rolleyes: members to download from FTP in order to seed.

[lynx]

Sparsely is right, if it is copyright material then it is illegal.

And with a forum this size you can bet it is being watched and that there will be some spies. Anyone can write guides etc, it is no guarantee that they aren't working for RIAA etc. And when you've been shopped you stll won't know who they were. Sounds like a quick way to get shut down.

Even having links to a sister site which is doing the hosting is risky. A private tracker is probably the best way since you don't actually host any files yourself.

[SeK612]

ES5 has something like that (private FTP servers). By all accounts its just as illegal to offer copyrighted material for download (distribute it) even if it is private. If you live in the U.S (or U.K or other European countries) and FST is hosted in a similar place it wouldn't be the best thing to do.

I don't really see the need for setting up such stuff though (presumably you're trying to breath more life into this place?). This site has always been about P2P (why not just stick to eMule, K++ and BT?) and has had to take various actions to prevent problems (no torrents or hosted to on this forum after a spat with Invision regarding the legality of them) and this site is watched by various people (note how Sharman attacked this site over K++).

Perhaps you should just stick to doing things like getting the skins sorted on the forum and installing an arcade and pumping lots of verified in to the various worlds (that was one of the main selling points of the forum for a long time) and getting rid of the anti spam script. The forum does seem to be going off the boil a bit but it'd be stupid to do anything too brash on the spur of the moment which could damage the forum further.

[NightStalker]

Originally posted by Sparsely@13 July 2004 - 19:58
well, you're hosting files, and if they're copyrighted by someone else, then it's still illegal to distribute them.
Not exactly, a program/software/script can be copyrighted but also distributed by licenses such as GNU GPL, etc.

[rookiecrd1]

Well this is just a consideration. I wanted peoples opinions. I don;t want to do anything to jeopardize this forum. I just want to make everyone happy.

Brian

[tesco]

Originally posted by rookiecrd1@13 July 2004 - 22:28
Well this is just a consideration.  I wanted peoples opinions.  I don;t want to do anything to jeopardize this forum.  I just want to make everyone happy.

Brian
I doubt that there would be one member on this forum who wouldn't love you for getting rid of Anti-Spam. ;) (reinstall the forum software)(remember to warm us a day or two ahead of time...)

[NightStalker]

Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004+13 July 2004 - 23:03--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ROSSCO_2004 @ 13 July 2004 - 23:03)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-rookiecrd1@13 July 2004 - 22:28
Well this is just a consideration.&nbsp; I wanted peoples opinions.&nbsp; I don;t want to do anything to jeopardize this forum.&nbsp; I just want to make everyone happy.

Brian
I doubt that there would be one member on this forum who wouldn&#39;t love you for getting rid of Anti-Spam. ;) (reinstall the forum software)(remember to warm us a day or two ahead of time...) [/b][/quote]
Then everyone would weep over their lost post count :rolleyes:

[tesco]

Originally posted by NightStalker+14 July 2004 - 01:35--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (NightStalker @ 14 July 2004 - 01:35)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004@13 July 2004 - 23:03
<!--QuoteBegin-rookiecrd1@13 July 2004 - 22:28
Well this is just a consideration.&nbsp; I wanted peoples opinions.&nbsp; I don;t want to do anything to jeopardize this forum.&nbsp; I just want to make everyone happy.

Brian
I doubt that there would be one member on this forum who wouldn&#39;t love you for getting rid of Anti-Spam. ;) (reinstall the forum software)(remember to warm us a day or two ahead of time...)
Then everyone would weep over their lost post count :rolleyes: [/b][/quote]
:lol:

If he does it right we won&#39;t lose anything. ;)

[NightStalker]

Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004+14 July 2004 - 01:43--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ROSSCO_2004 @ 14 July 2004 - 01:43)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Originally posted by NightStalker@14 July 2004 - 01:35

Originally posted by ROSSCO_2004@13 July 2004 - 23:03
<!--QuoteBegin-rookiecrd1@13 July 2004 - 22:28
Well this is just a consideration.&nbsp; I wanted peoples opinions.&nbsp; I don;t want to do anything to jeopardize this forum.&nbsp; I just want to make everyone happy.

Brian
I doubt that there would be one member on this forum who wouldn&#39;t love you for getting rid of Anti-Spam. ;) (reinstall the forum software)(remember to warm us a day or two ahead of time...)
Then everyone would weep over their lost post count :rolleyes:
:lol:

If he does it right we won&#39;t lose anything. ;) [/b][/quote]
Even if he backs up the MySQL database and restores it, some of the script may lie in the database. :unsure:

[thewizeard]

Originally posted by rookiecrd1@14 July 2004 - 03:28
Well this is just a consideration.&nbsp; I wanted peoples opinions.&nbsp; I don;t want to do anything to jeopardize this forum.&nbsp; I just want to make everyone happy.

Brian
Brian, you can make some of the people happy some of the time...but not all of the people all of the time.

[zapjb]

I think it should be a link only versus hosting files directly. With the un/pw changing frequently. And as somebody else mentioned the files hosted somewhere where it&#39;s legal. And also maybe when typing the link leave out the t as in f*p... You know cya by little details.

[tracydani]

I&#39;m not sure hosting the files is worth the risk involved. I mean how many of us are really fluent in the currents laws? Can any of us say with absolute authority that this would be a safe thing for you to do?

TD

[mogadishu]

i dont consider this a very good idea. maybe a private BT tracker, but an ftp or any server would just put the site in jeopardy. Also, what is the point? I hate to be harsh, but what exactly would be the benefits besides high download speeds?

[Entity101]

If it&#39;s private and for a relatively small group of people, then there shouldn&#39;t be any legal problems (even though strictly speaking hosting warez is illegal).

[Tikibonbon]

Originally posted by Error403@14 July 2004 - 12:47
If it&#39;s private and for a relatively small group of people, then there shouldn&#39;t be any legal problems (even though strictly speaking hosting warez is illegal).
Isn&#39;t this what we already have on Soulseek? hehehehehe

[Spicker]

Instead of FTP we could have Private Bittorrent Tracker that way you will also get fast transfers ;)

if FTP or Private Bittorrent Tracker do go up ill be a really big contributer i have sooo much stuff lying around so Count me in :01:

[namzuf9]

There are a few concerns I have about this Mr. B.

This "guy" you were talking to, do you know him well? I would&#39;nt like to see you get set up.
Whats to stop members giving out the server address and password to other peeps, even if its not done with malicious intent it would still present a security risk.
I can see the way members are selected for access causing a problem, people bitching and what not.
Have you thought of how you&#39;ll get all the latest warez/games/movies/music on there? Are there enough users with access to the above that have a hefty enough upload to make it worthwhile using?
Is&#39;nt this gonna cost a fair few &#036;&#39;s to run.

Personally I think a tracker would be a better idea as it takes a lot of the responsblity
away from you if the the shit hits the fan.
Free Sam4&#33;

[rookiecrd1]

How would we go about setting up a tracker. I have the least bit of knowledge in this.

[vap0r]

I am able to get all my warez at 0day through 5-7 .edu lines that are supplied by release groups (deviance, creed, etc). There are many different ways to restrict just certain people from getting on the ftp, one is through ip restriction, but the main way would be through credidation. If you are rewarded with access to the ftp/s then you would receive a certain amount of credits per thing you do (a credit is the amount of downloading you can do, ie: 1000mb of credits). So first off why would you want to share those credits with someone who didn&#39;t deserve them?

I have ran/helped run 2 file sharing websites, along with the running of a ircd network, webhosting company, gaming company, and I run my own freebsd 800gb+ server.

If you would like to talk to me in person you can contact me on aim at vapor iz me or icq at 78938970.

[Rat Faced]

Originally posted by rookiecrd1@14 July 2004 - 16:34
How would we go about setting up a tracker. I have the least bit of knowledge in this.
msn me Brian....

[Spicker]

@Brian...

we dont really need a Tracker check this out.. http://trackers.thebeehive.me.uk/

i used to hav a tracker of my own...(to help out suprnova) but i had to stop since i was using windows <_< (u need linux for 1800+ connections windows does not allow u to hav alot because they hav diff OS for servers... Windows Server 2003)

also another problem with my tracker was that i only had 1computer <_<

but i think we shud just use http://trackers.thebeehive.me.uk/ (the website owner is a friend of mine) ;)

EDIT: forgot to explain wt the website is about... the website has a big list of working trackers which we all can use without making our own ;)

[shn]

Originally posted by lynx@13 July 2004 - 19:30
And with a forum this size you can bet it is being watched and that there will be some spies.
Like who, Guest? :lol:

[lynx]

Originally posted by shn+14 July 2004 - 17:49--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (shn @ 14 July 2004 - 17:49)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-lynx@13 July 2004 - 19:30
And with a forum this size you can bet it is being watched and that there will be some spies.
Like who, Guest? :lol: [/b][/quote]
It isn&#39;t exactly hard to become a member here, is it?

I suspect there may even be people at RIAA who are capable of managing it. :rolleyes:

[Snee]

Originally posted by lynx+14 July 2004 - 18:52--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (lynx @ 14 July 2004 - 18:52)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Originally posted by shn@14 July 2004 - 17:49
<!--QuoteBegin-lynx@13 July 2004 - 19:30
And with a forum this size you can bet it is being watched and that there will be some spies.
Like who, Guest? :lol:
It isn&#39;t exactly hard to become a member here, is it?

I suspect there may even be people at RIAA who are capable of managing it. :rolleyes: [/b][/quote]
Only the very elite.

Luckily they haven&#39;t figured out how to log in yet.

But they have their crack team on it.

[RealitY]

Im rather suprised that this topic is even here and I just cant imagine this being a good idea. We alreay have similar places that were created through this forum. I guess a tracker may be ok but I still cant really see any of this as being a good idea in the long run...

[J'Pol]

What&#39;s wrong with The Lounge.

[rookiecrd1]

Well Basically I wanted and idea to increase the traffic and discussion here at FSt.

Brian

[Tikibonbon]

Originally posted by rookiecrd1@14 July 2004 - 19:07
Well Basically I wanted and idea to increase the traffic and discussion here at FSt.

Brian
I apologize Rookie, but I think this is the wrong direction to take for more traffic. Is the added risk worth a few extra members or click throughs?

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by rookiecrd1@14 July 2004 - 20:07
Well Basically I wanted and idea to increase the traffic and discussion here at FSt.

Brian

You need the forum to be linked to something that people want. I think a lot of people came here originally for the Kazaa Verified files. It was the hashes which brought people here, then they joined in the different sections while they were here. As the fast track network slows down, it is inevitable that any site which supplies tools to use it will suffer as well.

You need to consider the legality of other verified p2p type stuff. Tho&#39; I personally do not see what the difference is. If you supply Kazaa verifieds to members, why not the other systems as well.

If the board could supply torrents, ed2k links, magnet etc then there is a distinct possibility that people would join up. Whether you do this within the forum itself, or by having a web page(s) which provide them is a moot point. That could then quite easily link to here. Indeed you may consider showing people what is available, but insistng that they register on the forum before they can use any of the stuff.

Bearing in mind that if you had such a page, in addition to the forum, then there is double the advertising space available.

Forums which succeed and grow provide something which people want. Forums which try to exist in and of themselves, with no hook are unlikely to grow.

[namzuf9]

As much as I loathe to admit it, I agree with ole JP here Mr. B.

If you&#39;re looking at the FTP angle to increase traffic I&#39;d say drop the idea now. How you gonna advertise that? "Come to FST and I&#39;ll direct you to somewhere you can grab all the 0 day releases you want" Thats asking for trouble&#33;

How about (if) you run with the torrent tracker idea you reward regular uploaders with the FTP access. The idea of being awarded FTP access will spur users on to post torrents, the torrents will increase traffic through the forum and because you are providing more of a service than just a forum you may see an increase in donations/banner clicks to surport the site/board.

[J'Pol]

I was more thinking of a universal, all p2p apps, verifieds type thing. Rather than providing a tracker. To be honest I don&#39;t know how that works, tho&#39; I do use BT a lot. Second only to SS.

I just think the forum has lost a lot of it&#39;s pulling power as the Fast Track network has gone into decline. No matter what anyone thinks it has and will continue to do so.

However if it provided verifieds for all of the other systems as well then that may attract more people in. As the forum now covers different types of p2p apps and has discussions re all of them, then why not expand it that little bit more.

As I said earlier that may be best achieved by having a separate page, which requires registering on the linked forum (here). Or it could be just be having verified sections for all of the different networks.

Whatever, the board needs a new hook if it to attract more people in. Or indeed to make the existing members more active.

[sparsely]

nice verified sections would be great.
prolly a good idea to hide them from guests though (only visible when logged-in).

but with hosting tons of links, remember the case of sharereactor.
get to big and popular, you attract the wrong kind of attention.
and they&#39;ll get what they want, especially if the hosting is, as stated before, in the US or UK.

I&#39;d really like to see ed2k links work here without it appending &#39;http://&#39; to the beginning of every link.

:rolleyes:

[hungrylilboy]

i havent read any of this thread and to be honest, dont intend to. But I think this is possibly the worse idea anyone has ever come up with on this board...seriously.

[namzuf9]

If your looking for ways to draw more traffic this way then you&#39;ve had a few ideas thrown your way. The verifieds for other networks/apps may well be worth looking into, its how I first found this place as did many others.

One thing you should consider before increasing the intrest in this board is maybe trying to get the board hosted on servers in countries that are a bit more liberal with regards to copyright issues.
As Sparsely mentioned
remember the case of sharereactor.

[Broken]

Just allowing torrent files on the site would be great&#33; :)

It would definitly increase traffic to the forum. With the decline of Kazaa this place has hit a brick wall in term of growth. And with things getting worst, many users are moving on to other things. This could be a chance to give this place the nich it needs to bust through the roof and really stand out. There are really very few big well know torrent sites. The only ones I can think of off hand would be suprnova. org, phoenix-torrents.com, and the empornium.us. It would be competeing for a large market share with very few competitors. And torrent files are 100% legal here in the states, because all they are only text files.

Setting up a tracker would be really easy. Just a couple lines of script, and it&#39;s non-copyrighted material so nothing to pay there. However, you would be talking about setting up a fairly powerful server and a nightmare when it comes to bandwith (at least if we are talking about a good number of torrents). But, members could very easily host their own torrents. Like I said, a tracker is no problem to set up, and at least one of the more popular clients (Azureus) has a built in tracker.

Something to consider.
;)

[Mivaro]

Originally posted by Mr JP Fugley@15 July 2004 - 11:06
allow non-members to ask questions, a lot of people will go elsewhere if they are forced to register to ask a question. however if they se the forum as being useful they will be tempted in.

I also think guests should have (partially) acces to the board. I wouldn&#39;t register without knowing what there is.... <_<

[erRor67]

Well, this board should have a guest area where guests can post and stuff. See whats out there.


Torrents would be cool. get more traffic, but alot better B)

FTP files would be nice. But then the bandwidth would get high <_<

[tracydani]

Originally posted by Mr JP Fugley@15 July 2004 - 13:06
people may come here if they know that this board can provide good sensible answers to a wide range of questions posed, in a friendly way. there is a lot of knowledge and experience here which can be shared about, increasing the traffic at the same time. once you get people in to have a look they may join.
This is how the forum started. Almost any time a question was asked, it was answered in a friendly way or the person was pointed in the right direction. There wasn&#39;t so much of the snide remarks to noobs(unless it was jokingly usualy).

People were able to ask without so much fear of being torn up for not already knowing. We also had members who couldn&#39;t write with punctuation(anyone remember the specific person in mind :P ). It was an entire post filled with one giant paragraph that was also conveniently free of the polution of commas periods quotes what have you ;) This person frequented the place without fear of harrassment.

Anyway, it is may opinion that we should move back that direction, at least as far as how we treat people anyway.

I also like the idea of the torrents, but will the servers be able to handle them? I just think of how suprnova was always going down.

TD

[lynx]

Originally posted by tracydani@16 July 2004 - 08:03
Anyway, it is may opinion that we should move back that direction, at least as far as how we treat people anyway.
You may be right. :D


I also like the idea of the torrents, but will the servers be able to handle them?&nbsp; I just think of how suprnova was always going down.
The big difference if that Suprnova is completely public, I don&#39;t think the same thing was being proposed.

I have to admit I&#39;m not sure whether it was the listings which used to bring Suprnova down, or the trackers. Now a lot of the trackers are external though I think they always were. The reorganisation of the listings must have reduced the traffic tremendously.

[Spicker]

what used to bring suprnova down was the trackers so now they dont have trackers they use their own or someone elses from the tracker list ;)

[tracydani]

So where is this idea currently?

TD

[BawA]

and this section should for broadband and high speed users.
cuz 56 or ISDN users will be worthless to join the ftp servers.

[Sparkle1984]

Originally posted by bawa@Klite_user@22 July 2004 - 07:39
and this section should for broadband and high speed users.
cuz 56 or ISDN users will be worthless to join the ftp servers.
My connection is just above ISDN (150K to be precise), but why can&#39;t anyone share files if they want to?
I am always grateful for people who share files, even if it is slow. It&#39;s the thought that counts. ;)

[Digital Nirvana]

Originally posted by Sparkle1984+23 July 2004 - 17:05--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Sparkle1984 @ 23 July 2004 - 17:05)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-bawa@Klite_user@22 July 2004 - 07:39
and this section should for broadband and high speed users.
cuz 56 or ISDN users will be worthless to join the ftp servers.
My connection is just above ISDN (150K to be precise), but why can&#39;t anyone share files if they want to?
I am always grateful for people who share files, even if it is slow. It&#39;s the thought that counts. ;) [/b][/quote]
Sure its good for everyone to share files....but when i get stuck with one source/seed and its a dialup user....dont get me started....and no matter how much you want to deny it, dial up users contribute basically nothing to any network, with there measley upstream...however some dialup users can get 5-6kb on downloads so it only takes about 20minutes to download a song, and it will take what about all night for them to upload a song to you.;)The year is 2004 not 1995, get some damn broadband. And some might argue, "well they dont have broadband in my area"...well to that I say, you must live in some swamp in louisiana, because I live in Arkansas and we&#39;ve got about 5 broadband IPS&#39;s just in my area...others may argue "well i cant afford it", well wtf dsl is only about 25&#036; now and is getting cheaper by the day. Sorry, but i just get so fed up with these damn dial-up users...i take that back, im not sorry.

:)

[Sparkle1984]

So you would rather they shared no files at all? Zero, Zilch, zip, rien ?? :(

Not everybody in the world lives in the USA &#33;&#33; <_<

In many developing countries, people are lucky to have 56k, because there is nothing else available. I have family in developing countries, so I know.

[asmithz]

Originally posted by Entity101@14 July 2004 - 04:40
If it&#39;s private and for a relatively small group of people, then there shouldn&#39;t be any legal problems (even though strictly speaking hosting warez is illegal).
I agree with Entity101, as long as its a small group then there shouldn&#39;t be a problem.

I dont think it would be good, enless it has stuff on there faster then newgroups gets it.

[MicroScreen2]

rookie

i hope you do it. then i hope you get sued and lose more money than you make, that&#39;d teach you to be a greedy bastard :01:

[Broken]

Originally posted by MicroScreen2@23 July 2004 - 18:59
rookie

i hope you do it. then i hope you get sued and lose more money than you make, that&#39;d teach you to be a greedy bastard :01:
Aren&#39;t you a downer.
:blow:

[tesco]

Originally posted by MicroScreen2@23 July 2004 - 13:59
rookie

i hope you do it. then i hope you get sued and lose more money than you make, that&#39;d teach you to be a greedy bastard :01:
he already does. :blink:

or do u mean more than he makes from job? :unsure:

[BawA]

Originally posted by MicroScreen2@23 July 2004 - 22:59
rookie

i hope you do it. then i hope you get sued and lose more money than you make, that&#39;d teach you to be a greedy bastard :01:
hey mind ur language, respect the Admin :angry:

Rookie there will be no problem if the area is password protected and private just like newsgropu.