Every tracker should have a "guest" account

**Rart** · 09-13-2009, 02:34 AM

Why not?

Recently at BCG they instituted a guest account so that potential members could see if they liked the content on the tracker and actually would want to use it, to eliminate possible unused accounts. However, soon after it was removed due to public postings of the guest account user/pw over a bunch of public forums.

I disagree with that decision, I think that every tracker should have a guest account, and that the benefits of having one far outweigh the losses.

First off, it would greatly reduce collecting and trading. The majority of collectors and traders are breeded simply from the fact that they want to join these "l33t" and "rare" trackers because they are a magical cesspool of rare, exclusive, fast, and amazing content that can't be found on any other trackers, failing to realize what the trackers are really for (community, security, or some other random niche). Ridiculously hyped, but almost impossible to get into, people turn to trading to find a way in. If they actually realized the content/peers may not be as good as their everyday 0day tracker, they could potentially not bother seeking it out anymore.

A point made against having guest accounts is obviously security. I call BS. The RIAA/MPAA aren't retarded. It's incredibly easy for any of them to find the tracker url, secret login mechanisms, or even get into the tracker itself through months of asskissing. Heck, even a simple google search, even with a little bit of effort, can easily tell you what any tracker URL is and what any initials stand for. Honestly, could it really be any more obvious what ScT stands for? If the feds couldn't even piece that together, they wouldn't be feds. A guest account wouldn't compromise the security of the users either. A guest account can't post, DL, or do anything else of significance. They can't snatch a torrent and log the IPs of the peers when they can't download anything. So why not? And guest accounts are the most benificial to the small, random, niche sites that value community, security, yadda yadda. With these small userbases, I really doubt the feds would have busting obscure torrent sites on their top priority. Limewire/public sites/LARGE private sites/FTPs are a far more vulnerable and useful target for feds to go after, and I don't think sites should be concerned either way.

Thoughts?

**Duckater** · 09-13-2009, 02:39 AM

Why not invite all authorities there at same time?
It is those sorts of trackers they want to take out more than the little ones with just a few people grabbing stuff as can get a lot more people in one go
That will be why bcg got rid once common knowledge I would say.

So to cut along story short I think it is a dumb ass idea

**Rart** · 09-13-2009, 02:45 AM

And what else will the "authorities" get from using a guest account? It isn't hard to get into BcG, and once they do, they have a lot more information than a guest account could ever provide. That's why I feel like a guest account can't hurt.

**megabyteme** · 09-13-2009, 02:56 AM

I like that you put time, effort, and thought into your post, Rart.

Unfortunately, I disagree with your idea. As nice as it would be to reduce trading and drive away collectors, I would not put a clear door on my house to discourage thieves from breaking in. I will stick to my good old solid wood with the opaque, small window. Privacy is good. Filtering of irresponsible, dangerous people is good. It is the same for trackers as it is for your house.

**lysine** · 09-13-2009, 04:14 AM

I don't agree with guest accounts, because they will never discourage traders because they want to use invites as currency, but I've always thought along these lines:

Originally Posted by Rart

The RIAA/MPAA aren't retarded. It's incredibly easy for any of them to find the tracker url, secret login mechanisms, or even get into the tracker itself through months of asskissing.

**Funkin'** · 09-13-2009, 10:49 AM

The guest account in my opinion is a good idea since it does give a person a look at the tracker without actually creating account. I wish I could have done this with a few trackers, instead of signing up, finding out that I don't like the site for whatever reason and then either deleting the account or letting it go to die. Which we've all done. You're not going to like every site you signup for.

But, there are some disadvantages to the guest account. Every tracker has at least a few douchebags for members. And like the case with BCG, one of those douches leaked the account details publicly(even after staff mentioned specifically on the home page not to do this). So there's that. Plus there's the disadvantage that has been mentioned already, that any undesirable person can look into your site.

So maybe instead of making a default guest account that just anyone can use, maybe make it to where when you send an invite to a friend of yours there's a link in the email to signup, like always, but also a guest account link so the person can check out the browse page/forums(which would be a link that could only be used once like the signup one).

This may not be the best idea either, but there's gotta be a way to let your trusted friend get a glimpse of the site before actually creating an account without giving the whole world the opportunity to look too.

**Bad-Day** · 09-13-2009, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Duckater

Why not invite all authorities there at same time?

**sez** · 09-13-2009, 01:59 PM

A guest account will only work with sites where security is not that much of a priority(take CN or maybe demonoid for example).
Otherwise in places where hard disks get microwaved at the slightest hint of intrusion its an idea thats D.O.A.

Perhaps the best alternative to this would be a video tour,just that its not shot by a cheap ass camera phone.