irc recruitment provides illusory security

[realityhd]

Whatsup with this whole IRC recruitment thing? Do you guys think it is better for security? Or is it another community thing for the fanboys?

I have easily managed to deny ever being banned from trackers, selectively chosen profile links to share, etc. I don't see how this is keeping undesirable users like me out of your cute little trackers and torrent forums.

It is so easy to get through these interviews. It takes little more effort than filling out a signup page. Such recruitment provides illusory security.

The only thing I can see as a benefit is having ammunition to try and get traders/cheaters banned after the fact by ratting them out to staff of trackers they provide as proof.

If you run a tracker/forum that uses irc, please be advised that all your base are belong to us.

[Stellar]

For some of the trackers that have IRC interviews I think it's less about security and more about finding users who are actually interested in the content.

[IdolEyes787]

The supposition is that everyone worthwhile is on irc.

[ca_aok]

Not really, there are morons on IRC too.

As an interviewer for more than one site, it's about weeding out blatant idiots. Sure, it's not that hard to get in, but there are plenty of folks that have given terrible profile links, said they approved of trading, didn't appear to need the site etc during the interview. It also gives you a bit of a feel for their personality. It's not really about security, it's about weeding out folks who will likely get banned before they can even join. The added effort required also tends to weed out collectors who just join any site they can.

IRC interviews on a place like What.CD aren't even a way to weed folks out, they're a way of recruiting MORE members who don't know existing members or can't get invites off them, something that would've been very nice back when I joined.

The only thing I can see as a benefit is having ammunition to try and get traders/cheaters banned after the fact by ratting them out to staff of trackers they provide as proof.

Watch your back. It's a pity that we have to deal with people like you in the torrenting world, but it is what it is. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

[sear]

The only thing I can see as a benefit is having ammunition to try and get traders/cheaters banned after the fact by ratting them out to staff of trackers they provide as proof.

Exactly people might think twice about fucking up if they know for a fact they can easily be traced to other trackers if they're caught.

Besides you're reasonably well written so yes it's easy for you to get through but for many people writing in English particularly when their under pressure in real time is difficult and they often slip up.

For example many people jump on IRC to see why they've been banned. When they realise it will take more than just an I didn't do it they become flustered...then angry before finally exploding in a barely understandable rant. After a while you get an eye for these people and can pick them out before they even get started (yes I know it's not fair but that's life).

Some trackers that do this may also feel that it's the lesser of the evils. On one hand you give invites and your forced to battle traders and sellers. Open up the doors and it's dupe accounts and cheaters. At least with IRC you're in control of who's coming through the doors.

[mievmo]

I love that way, when u need to give profile links. that way the user will be loyal to the tracker.

[sez]

Since you brought it up.....the other day i was having a conversation with a staffer from a certain tracker whose personal details i so happened to have stumbled upon on my e-scapedes and with the advent of facebook i thought it as wise to warn him just incase coz he was one of those people whose email addys read exactly as their drivers license would plus i was also looking for a ban war gone pro coz i thought it was one of his admins that did it but as it turns out it was the work of hackers.Those of you who have been around long enough should remember this(wasn't there,though i try to educate myself as much as i can on how things used to be)but a while back a good number of trackers got hacked with the worst affected being this one they used to call scenenetwork.To put it simply,the hackers took the site and turned it inside out.

And I know it wasn't a tard tracker coz the nicks on it read like a radio top ten hit list of todays @s and &s.Anyways,i proceed to ask him whether he ever felt uneasy with this info. lying out there in the open. knowing his tracker to be a fortress you would expect this to be a person who crawls under cups and bowls at the sound of any form of sirens,but to my suprise he breaks into a rant that basically said i honestly don't care about security.Now you take from that what you will but i think it kinda explains why some easily bust-able people like djgrr are still in BT.



//rant

[Hombre]

i know a guy who made 5 different accts on GFT when they had that irc interview sometime ago. he traded 2 and still has 3 last time i talked to him. i dont think is very fair, as people like him is the reason why guys like me are not members there, as example. so i dont think irc interviews are the way to go, if a normal guy can fool them like he did, so do other more clever people like authorities.

[colbert]

I'm somewhat familiar with What's channel and I think it has been successful. At a minimum, it gets people who know how to properly rip cd's and upload good torrents.

[jasperr]

I have easily managed to deny ever being banned from trackers, selectively chosen profile links to share, etc. I don't see how this is keeping undesirable users like me out of your cute little trackers and torrent forums.

It is so easy to get through these interviews. It takes little more effort than filling out a signup page. Such recruitment provides illusory security.

The only thing I can see as a benefit is having ammunition to try and get traders/cheaters banned after the fact by ratting them out to staff of trackers they provide as proof.

If you run a tracker/forum that uses irc, please be advised that all your base are belong to us.

hmmmm... where to begin here..

First of all i think there are a couple of reasons for an IRC interview..

#1 being just to get a feel for a person by actually talking with the individual vs making posts in a forum or reading responses from a pre-made form.

#2 there really is no way to avoid hiding your ip in an irc chat as it does not support such actions.. only way you may be able to avoid it if you use sort of web chat through a proxie server.... in which case that could be very much limited because again it would show that your using a web chat service..


so, you can provide selective profile links as you wish thinking your beating the system.. but, it's indeed a much harder thing to mask your ip through IRC.. if the interviewer is smart first thing they would do is search your ip before even addressing your request for an invite..

*sigh
yes i know it isn't 100% fool proof... but, it makes better odds of catching a dishonest person imo...