Ironic how BT is becomming like the Scene

[emperorIX]

I too agree with the OP, there is little need for the elitist attitude so prevalent in the BT community.

I think too many BT users and site admins/owners are perhaps a little too envious of the scene and try a bit too hard to mirror them, which includes the elitist attitude.

The scene is legitimately exclusionary as there is a real concern for security because as a group they are the largest copyright offenders out there and they do engage in other unlawful activities as well (hacking private servers, etc). Whereas, many of the "top" private BT sites contribute little more than hosting for torrent files that point your computer to scene created material and offer little if any original content of their own. And, maintaining an anonymously owned site is much easier than maintaining an anonymous group, as a site will typically have only one owner. Anonymity is very easy to achieve when running a site utilizing private shells and numbered accounts, which are both cheap and easy to setup. However, there can be a real security concern once the user base reaches the size of, say, Oink or Demonoid or TPB.

And, Quality control is definitely not an excuse for this elitist attitude as most/all of their material is scene created in the first place.

So, perhaps this elitist attitude is akin to penis envy, as many of these private BT sites want so bad to be a part of the scene, but really do little more than leech from the scene. Now there's an irony for you....sites that actively deride or condemn leeching, leeching themselves to survive.

[Zaxx]

it'd be easier to join the ACTUAL scene

I partially agree with the OP...except for this part, hoping you were j/k

[WarrenBuffet]

I joined this forum simply to make this one post. Does anybody else find it funny that Bittorrent, once known as a file sharing medium for the masses, has started to turn into an elitest group of self-absorbed asses?

I'm looking at some of these threads and am honestly thinking to myself that it'd be easier to join the ACTUAL scene rather than put up with all of this bullshit. What's worse are the sites with only special uploaders, because then the users are contributing little more than bandwidth.

What I find lame too is people uploading stuff and taking credit for it as if it was their creation (scene stuff mostly, though obvisouly this isn't always the case). You can be sure that I don't bother with any of it, I'm well setup in terms of getting pretty much anything I need, without BT. I was a member of Torrentbits back in the day, as well as Elite... but the whole torrent scene is just sad now.

My opinion, does anybody else agree?

It won't be your last. I hope you enjoy your stay here.

[SgtMajor]

I joined this forum simply to make this one post. Does anybody else find it funny that Bittorrent, once known as a file sharing medium for the masses, has started to turn into an elitest group of self-absorbed asses?

I'm looking at some of these threads and am honestly thinking to myself that it'd be easier to join the ACTUAL scene rather than put up with all of this bullshit. What's worse are the sites with only special uploaders, because then the users are contributing little more than bandwidth.

What I find lame too is people uploading stuff and taking credit for it as if it was their creation (scene stuff mostly, though obvisouly this isn't always the case). You can be sure that I don't bother with any of it, I'm well setup in terms of getting pretty much anything I need, without BT. I was a member of Torrentbits back in the day, as well as Elite... but the whole torrent scene is just sad now.

My opinion, does anybody else agree?

Some of the sites resonate with what you put forward, simply because they can and control & power is everything and it can go to the head of some staff at some sites, prob all sites have a staffer or two that is power mad, and some sites have a lot of staffers that way due to the leadership from the very top.

Being a usenet junkie from the very early days, PS1 CDs, MS Office 97 on floppies, when norton commander on your PC was a must to unzipping Appz & Games in DOS, when FTP access to top sites was a privilege granted not bought, and we all talked on BBs & usenet text groups, it was obvious that a new medium was needed to spread from the few to the many. Along came P2P in it's many disguises, kazaa & limewire types etc, and BT was just what was needed, it is file sharing for the masses and should be so, however site owners have their rules just as FTP owners have their set of rules.

BT sites forums have taken over where BBs & usenet text groups once ruled supreme and it's just a matter of finding out which ones you prefer over others, just as some text groups didn't suit your taste you moved on to the next one, just as there are also some binary groups you ignore then there will be plenty of torrent sites you will pass over as the content is of no interest either. Finding the right balance of content & forums that suit your tastes is made harder by the strict entry rules enforced, which may make it seem as your OP suggested, but security of the site is prob the most overriding factor of the site owner, and as they mature then they can implement whatever rules they want, we may not agree with them, and if we strongly disagree that much - then we have the choice to leave that site & move on.

Life is all about choices, I still get most of my content from usenet (old habits die hard), I like the packs that most sites do, and I enjoy the banter in the forums, so I have a good mix but most don't like me as I do not grab 0day from them which is their lifeblood of torrents, so all of us have to find a happy medium one way or another, and learn to appreciate what each of us brings to the table.

You pays your many, you makes your choice, but above all enjoy the ride.

[CPC464]

BCG

Signing up has been the best game i have played in a while,

pure madness

[dunson]

BCG

Signing up has been the best game i have played in a while,

pure madness

After Sgt's very wise post, this is just too funny.

Most staffers and users are very nice to me and I like how trackers are kept safe by limiting entry. I think it is key to find some places you really like and just enjoy the content and community.

[thedemon44]

The only place I find i am genuinly active in the forums is BCG, and I have no problem with any self-absorbed people. I suppose they exist, but i tend to not notice them, as thier opinions have little weight. Attitude goes a long way.

That said, i definitly prefer private trackers. The content is safe (100% for me so far), the quality is high, and if it isnt, its usually removed. Public trackers on the other hand... painful at best. So often i read the comments and people are telling you not to download the file because it contains a virus.

Makes me wonder if its done on purpose i see it so often. I would not be suprised if that were the case, because there do seem to be a lot of anti-p2p groups out there who dont care about being nice... they only want the cash they percive us of robbing them of. Yeah, thanks but no thanks, I'll stick with my hard earned and what i feel to be very deserved private trackers.

[Roark]

I disagree completely - the explosion of bt private trackers has made bt less exclusive than ever before. Scene axx has become so trivial to come by that even good 0day trackers can barely compete with new site after new site popping up offering nearly perpetual free leech. I still remember when the difference between a good tracker and a poor tracker was hours - days difference in pre's, and 100mbit vs 5-10mbit connection speeds. Now the gap has narrowed so much they're barely indistinguishable.

[TheFoX]

I disagree completely - the explosion of bt private trackers has made bt less exclusive than ever before. Scene axx has become so trivial to come by that even good 0day trackers can barely compete with new site after new site popping up offering nearly perpetual free leech. I still remember when the difference between a good tracker and a poor tracker was hours - days difference in pre's, and 100mbit vs 5-10mbit connection speeds. Now the gap has narrowed so much they're barely indistinguishable.

I agree. These days, the decision of which trackers to use has nothing to do with 0day, pre-times or content, but rather which trackers are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. People will use the trackers they feel most at home with, and not the ones that can offer the best content/pre-time.

Just goes to show how trackers have evolved. No longer do we have the default stylesheet, as many places have numerous different skins to chose from.

[(I)]

I joined this forum simply to make this one post.

bye

BT users could just as easily produce content, even more so, as I suspect there are a LOT more BT users than scene participants. That being said, I thought it used to suck that we had to conform to scene rules, which are totally arbitrary. I'll take a constant quality encode over any 2 pass VBR any day of the week.

No dude it's a dream, how many BT users can crack a game or reverse engineer a ware, yeah perhaps burning DVD stuff is easy but some games needed ages to be cracked (as splinter cell), some never cracked (as Cossacks 2), so only reloaded, vitality, razor etc can do the job