I wanted to start a serious discussion about the common policy of lifetime banning someone from a tracker as well as "pre-banning", meaning banning them from one tracker because they were banned from another. Hopefully there won't be too many ruffled feathers about it but here are my thoughts:
I know people will say, it is a private tracker and they can do whatever they want, and yes, that is true. I am merely stating an opinion on the matter in the hopes this will start a serious discussion and rethinking of certain policies because, In my opinion these policies need to be rethought.
To give a little background, I was banned from a certain tracker about 5 years ago for ghost leeching. I didn't know what it was at the time, I just had a horrible internet connection and at the time there wasn't really any mechanism in place for users in my situation. I didn't stand a chance, I tried everything but from the beginning my ratio was in trouble and some kind of administrative action would likely happen anyway. Yes, I probably should have known better and that it was probably against the rules but I was desperate because, as I said, from the very beginning I didn't stand a chance. Anyway, I took my punishment and carried on. I learned my lesson and accepted the fact that I would be banned for life, unless I got another invite under a new username and email and IP and MAC, which I did not want to do because I actually wanted to be a good member. So I basically quit torrenting, or did very little and only in certain trackers where it was easier to maintain a ratio on slow connections. This continued until better speeds became available in my town. I had become a member at other private trackers within five years. Those that asked the "have you been banned anywhere else" question, I truthfully said yes and explained why and most were understanding that it was a mistake a very long time ago and I have strived to rebuild my reputation.
However there were some that were not so understanding. Again, I understand that these are private trackers and they have no obligation to me at all. I joined another tracker a few months ago, one I had been wanting to join for a while. I had joined by invite from the site creator in a class-restricted forum on another tracker. He did not ask me the "question", I just asked for an invite and he gave it to me. So I assumed he already did the "background check" I know they do and didn't care for whatever reason. This site had no ratio requirements after all. I had only activated my account, not even downloaded anything yet, before I was banned. I was told the reason I was banned was because of that 5 year old ban on another tracker. I was told I would have to clear things up with them before I would be un-banned, if at all. As I'm sure you could tell, even though I was forthcoming, cooperative, and polite, things did not go well with either of those conversations. After waiting for days and only getting a few minutes to talk, I got nowhere with either site. Fine. It is a private site after all and even though it was a noob mistake 5 years ago and I have had a good reputation at many other sites since then, they can do what they want.
Apart from the unnecessary rudeness and days of waiting only to be mostly ignored, the part that really got me was when one of them said, "we don't invite cheaters". That really made me angry for a number of reasons which is the crux of this whole thing. Because they do have cheaters on their sites. They do invite them and many of them don't get caught. If you have ever read any of these forums you know that. People just get another invite or whatever. The real cheaters as I call them. Hell, there are even forums dedicated to cheating on elite private trackers. What they don't have is people that made a mistake and want to be reintegrated into the community. Again, yes, it is a private tracker and they have no obligation to do so but I don't think they ever considered the side effects of these policies.
Instead of discouraging breaking the rules, I would argue these policies in many cases have the reverse affect. If you break a rule early in your torrenting "career" either on purpose or by accident, and your punishment is a lifetime ban from not only one tracker but a pre-ban from many others, what does that do? Does that mean that person is just going to say "oh well" and walk away? Not likely. Since they already know there is absolutely nothing else they can loose, more than likely I would imagine it would just make them try to find another way in and keep doing it after the continue to get caught. And that is exactly what happens. I do not know how often it happens as I have never ran a tracker (and I would be very curious if anyone has numbers) but I see people on this forum and others talk about how they got banned and just got a new invite since that is the only option for reintegration. Meanwhile, those that learned from there mistakes long ago and want to be part of the community cannot be. Again, private trackers aren't obligated to re-integrate you, but if they don't then I believe that, more often than not, that would turn someone that wants to be part of the community into a career cheater. It seems to me the lifetime ban and pre-ban policies of many of these private trackers are in fact indirectly encouraging cheating and possibly creating cheaters more than it is trying to prevent it. I think a better policy would be some sort of re-integration policy after a lengthy ban. What are your thoughts on the matter? And please, let's keep this discussion serious and civil.
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Originally Posted by stoi
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