About private trackers

What's up with the invitation system? I'm running a couple of private forums (not file sharing) myself, and I do understand why the administrators wants control over who gets access. An invitation system will result in high quality content, but at the same time you'll lose a lot of potential great members. I have noticed that a lot of people are giving away- and trading invitations, so it's obviously not working as intended. This could be solved by letting people register and submit an application instead. Anyway, I have some questions about private trackers I hope you'll answer:

- I'm looking for a place to start, and I want access to a tracker for TV shows. Which open, private tracker do you recommend?
- Where's the place to get an invitation to a specific tracker, if I don't know anyone who's a member there?
- Is trading really accepted?

The simple way to get a foot in the door is to be a good member on one good tracker, then go to their power users forum to get invites to other good sites. Soon enough you'd be everywhere you want to be. It usually takes 4 weeks to be a PU, but if you would've started years ago, you'd be a long time member by now. The easiest way in is by being a Power User on What.CD. Then you have invites to almost everything direct from the sites themselves. The best TV tracker recruits there, BTN. If you're good with tests, you're in, and only need something like 25GB upload and 5 uploads of your own. It can be software or comics as well as music.

http://www.whatinterviewprep.com/

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Originally Posted by justlooking

The simple way to get a foot in the door is to be a good member on one good tracker, then go to their power users forum to get invites to other good sites. Soon enough you'd be everywhere you want to be. It usually takes 4 weeks to be a PU, but if you would've started years ago, you'd be a long time member by now. The easiest way in is by being a Power User on What.CD. Then you have invites to almost everything direct from the sites themselves. The best TV tracker recruits there, BTN. If you're good with tests, you're in, and only need something like 25GB upload and 5 uploads of your own. It can be software or comics as well as music.

http://www.whatinterviewprep.com/

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Or, you can get to "know" some generous people around this site by contributing your interests, wit, knowledge, etc. and then making a request in the appropriate section. Chances are good that someone will be willing to help you get "in the door" without jumping through all of the hoops mentioned above.

And, no, unless you intend to devote your time and efforts "trading up", trading is stupid, pointless, and almost universally shunned. Quite often, sites find people who have traded their way in and ban them, so any efforts you made doing so can disappear instantly.

The best thing to do is be patient, interesting (sites can always use someone who knows something or can make people laugh), and take care of your account(s) when you get in.

Thanks for the tips.

What.CD seems to have a good invitation system. However, I'm using Spotify for music, so I'm not really interested in joining a music tracker, at least not at the moment. I've heard that it's a good tracker though.

So, which open, private tracker do you recommend to get started?

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Originally Posted by Enden

So, which open, private tracker do you recommend to get started?

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Most people begin with a general content site (sometimes called 0-day) which is not too likely to ban an inviter who may have made a mistake. Some sites do, and these are more difficult/nearly impossible to get in (doesn't actually make them "better", BTW). You are most likely to get an invite into IPTorrents (IPT) or TorrentLeech (TL). They are almost identical in content, but IPT seems a bit easier to "seed back" (upload) and has a system in place that rewards seeders for keeping files active.

After you are successful on a site like IPT, you stand a far greater chance of being offered other invites in our request section. Some people go overboard thinking they need to be super members ( :frusty: ) in order to be recognized/invited elsewhere. Don't get sucked into anything other than finding material you are interested in, making use of it, following site rules, and seeding back 1:1.

Just say something smart and original, like once, and I think that's all that should be necessary. My head has been upon many laurels, and I think even now I've got bits and pieces of laurels in my hair.

BTN works well for TV. There is a variety of formats available for newer stuff and somewhat of a category for more dated material. There is no ratio requirement, just seeding time rules and some silly incentives to keep content seeded (beyond personal principles that is). Is that what you're seeking?

Thanks megabyteme, you've been very helpful.

mjmacky, I'm original, but smart? We all have our limitations, and I know mine.

BTN looks great. I don't mind ratio requirements, as the computer I'm using for torrents is online 24/7. I'm looking for a place with high quality material that's specialized on TV shows, where new episodes are available right after they have been on the air, and I can find good, old TV shows without being nuked by porn ads and whatnot.

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Originally Posted by Enden

Thanks megabyteme, you've been very helpful.

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You're welcome, Enden. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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Originally Posted by Enden

An invitation system will result in high quality content, but at the same time you'll lose a lot of potential great members

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:glagpinch:

Laugh all you want, but that's a fact. A great member will contribute a lot to the community - most members don't do that, and if only members are allowed to invite new people, you'll miss out on some of them.

I'm now in on IPT, btw :) The difference between a public- and private tracker is huge.