Do you download to...?

[sez]

I don't entirely fall on either but I mostly lean towards active.I download lots of documentaries and ebooks these days and I guess that stems from a desire to know more.

[7th]

I think I'm 50/50%. I'm always searching for something specific, but I check the same trackers in the categories I'm interested almost everyday to see the news. If something calls my attention and I know what it is, I download. If it calls my attention and I don't know what it is, I do some research and if it still interest me, then I grab it.

Is this what you were asking?

[BlueMax]

Never before have SO MUCH given by SO MANY for SO LITTLE ...

yup! file sharing rocks!

spirit of the Battle of Britain lives on ............

[megabyteme]

I think I'm 50/50%. I'm always searching for something specific, but I check the same trackers in the categories I'm interested almost everyday to see the news. If something calls my attention and I know what it is, I download. If it calls my attention and I don't know what it is, I do some research and if it still interest me, then I grab it.

Is this what you were asking?

You invited me to a tracker that was a learning community in itself just yesterday. Certainly seeking out a tracker that contains materials that help you continue in your profession (as in the case of graphic design) qualifies as LEARNING.

My hope is that the majority of people are gaining something of value from this community. Far too often people are seeking the means (trackers) and miss the benefits entirely.

This thread is as much to share and celebrate what we get from this community, as it is an attempt to get some of those missing the true benefits to see them.

[Quarterquack]

Well then, it's always been a hobby of mine to write scripts, and TheVault's writing GB is perfect. Does that count as learning or does that constitute proactively looking for material that I'm interested in?

BT offers a wealth of information. So does my university library. So does my car manual. I think people tend to see more than really is there. BT is a media outlet, the same as a Newspaper stand on the corner of the street, but you don't feel the necessity to go there and learn something, do you?

While people might be missing some benefits, I think you're seeing much more than there actually is. BT is a means, not the means, and if that means 50% of people will continue to buffer instead of learn, I have no gripes with that.

I understand your point, I just don't necessarily agree that everyone has to go around learning something just to "make the most" out of BT. People don't need to go out of their way to satisfy their need for knowledge, certainly not step on their own desire to watch an Austin Powers movie downloaded from PTN in order to read a medical book from BitMe.

My point is, people will satisfy their needs, while yours may be to make the most of the knowledge base, mine might be to learn new skills or to better my current ones, while another person is in BT literally "for the community." If you don't get the answers you're looking for it's because other people don't share your same views.

[central101]

I would consider my self active as I generally download e-learning books. For instance, just last week I began reading the book "C++ For DUMMIES" which I'm finding very intriguing. If it wasn't for bit torrent I would have never tried to learn.

[megabyteme]

Well then, it's always been a hobby of mine to write scripts, and TheVault's writing GB is perfect. Does that count as learning or does that constitute proactively looking for material that I'm interested in?

BT offers a wealth of information. So does my university library. So does my car manual. I think people tend to see more than really is there. BT is a media outlet, the same as a Newspaper stand on the corner of the street, but you don't feel the necessity to go there and learn something, do you?

While people might be missing some benefits, I think you're seeing much more than there actually is. BT is a means, not the means, and if that means 50% of people will continue to buffer instead of learn, I have no gripes with that.

I understand your point, I just don't necessarily agree that everyone has to go around learning something just to "make the most" out of BT. People don't need to go out of their way to satisfy their need for knowledge, certainly not step on their own desire to watch an Austin Powers movie downloaded from PTN in order to read a medical book from BitMe.

My point is, people will satisfy their needs, while yours may be to make the most of the knowledge base, mine might be to learn new skills or to better my current ones, while another person is in BT literally "for the community." If you don't get the answers you're looking for it's because other people don't share your same views.

I get what you are saying, too, rh. How about if I asked the question this way..."If you had free access to the world's total knowledge base of digital information, would you do anything valuable with, or gain, from that access?"

I don't think I am being an elitist here- people can pursue ANY kind of media (I mentioned some of them) and do whatever they want with that. However, it IS questionable if they actually GAIN anything from that access.

[7th]

I think I'm 50/50%. I'm always searching for something specific, but I check the same trackers in the categories I'm interested almost everyday to see the news. If something calls my attention and I know what it is, I download. If it calls my attention and I don't know what it is, I do some research and if it still interest me, then I grab it.

Is this what you were asking?

You invited me to a tracker that was a learning community in itself just yesterday. Certainly seeking out a tracker that contains materials that help you continue in your profession (as in the case of graphic design) qualifies as LEARNING.

My hope is that the majority of people are gaining something of value from this community. Far too often people are seeking the means (trackers) and miss the benefits entirely.

This thread is as much to share and celebrate what we get from this community, as it is an attempt to get some of those missing the true benefits to see them.

In this case, I must say that I've been learning new things almost everyday for a long time thanks to torrenting... I have access to things that I would never have access to by other means...

edit: ah, just one interesting example: last week a new client asked me to do a new job for him related to webdesign (not my "forte")... I had no idea about how to do it, but I knew how to learn it... I got the job.

And this is just one case that I' got paid to learn new things.

[kallieb]

I would say I'm obsessively active

I like to grab a hold of a genre and squeeze it dry as much as I can. For example, I wanted to explore the Western genre a tad so I dl'd a 50 film Top IMDB western pack and proceeded to become totally mesmerized by the unique perspective this genre provides, as well as the take that different actors/directors have given it. In sum, I'd have to say Clint Eastwood and John Huston have nailed it in so far as acting/directing.

I do so this very same way with a variety of other elements of film - whether it be to explore a particular industry (Hong Kong cinema as one example), or by Director/Actor/Time period etc.

Aside from following themes in film packs, I also enjoy watching a film to see how well it contributes or adds something to the genre, to film making in general, or how risque it was to present such a film at the time. Lolita is a great example of the latter. Nowadays we yawn at such a subject matter as it doesn't seem new - but at one point a film covering a particular subject WAS new. It was something never presented in mainstream cinema or otherwise. Lolita was like that. Orson Welles, as a Director, took a unique approach (at the time) to the use of lighting and contrast. Today we don't think twice about it - but then, it was a blazing new approach to cinematic vision.

So in this regard, considering the backdrop of a film is just as interesting as the film itself, and that element never ceases to enthrall me and it drives the choices I make in what films to watch.

[megabyteme]

Two great examples of how we can all benefit from this. It takes effort and imagination, but this is such a unique and new phenomenon that I believe we have to realize what we have so we will maintain strength when we need to fight for it.

This is a special sub-section of the internet where money has no place; no one is told they are excluded from "expensive" learning materials, the cost of admission, or there is a finite amount to go around. Advertising is (FTMP) not allowed. We, the consumers, the sharers, and the curious are King here! Our resources are, for once in our lives, infinite!!!

There are those who do not want us to have such a community. To them, we are thieves- PIRATES , who should pay, and pay dearly for this unprecedented access. But yet how is it that I am costing anything? I am making use of something that already exists; I never took anything. I merely viewed it (if it were worth my time), listened to it (if its sound was pleasing), or learned something (if I wanted to learn from the experience). And if I enjoyed it, I shared it with others who wished to do the same.