4 ms·

Its because bit torrent trackers are much more than just an index of torrents. They need a huge support system with forums, membership systems, point systems,

Its because bit torrent trackers are much more than just an index of torrents. They need a huge support system with forums, membership systems, point systems, funding drives, etc. If you look at the software that runs these sites you will see that moving to a distributed platform would not be so easy.

paol 9y ago
Unless I misunderstood you, none of that is relevant if you're not using index sites in the first place.
- bubblethink 9y ago
  I'm not sure if you can make magnet links work in a private tracker setting. Private trackers embed the user's key in the torrent file.
- Ketchup901 9y ago
  There is more of an incentive if you have a private site with a forum and community and you're not just releasing illegal shit onto the internet.
- maratd 9y ago
  > none of that is relevant if you're not using index sites in the first place One of the reasons that bittorrent has been successful and all the other protocols have failed is precisely because it allows for the use of private index sites. This allows for the creation of custom software that can provide all those extras (forums, comments, ratings, descriptions, etc.), but most importantly, user tracking. If you track the user, you can solve the sharing problem. For someone to download, someone else has to upload. Using index sites allows you to solve the hit-and-run problem, where someone just downloads, but then doesn't upload. You just ban those people. You then end up with a community where everyone plays nice, which leads to fast speeds and an eagerness to share content.
  - problems 9y ago
    The "hit-and-run" problem turns out not to be that big of an issue really - there's so many public torrents out there and so many people that want the files that things mostly seem to work out just fine. Sure, you won't max gigabit like you will on some private stuff, but unless that's an absolute need, issues with public trackers are fairly rare. In fact I've occasionally found files with only a single peer or two on a private tracker which would barely download which were much more readily available on a public tracker.
    - maratd 9y ago
      > Sure, you won't max gigabit like you will on some private stuff, but unless that's an absolute need, issues with public trackers are fairly rare. Well, that's kind of the point. If you can download something that's 3GB in two minutes, it fundamentally changes how you deal with media. There's also the issue of security that I didn't mention. Public torrents are visible to everyone, so your download or upload is an action viewable to everyone. With private trackers, your actions are only viewable to the members.
      - problems 9y ago
        > Well, that's kind of the point. If you can download something that's 3GB in two minutes, it fundamentally changes how you deal with media. Not really in my experience. I'm a big usenet guy, but I still horde a local collection - if you're using a private tracker you don't want to be re-downloading things all the time because that'd cost you ratio and you still need to hold them long enough to upload them a fair bit. Usenet is really the closest you get to not needing to hoard, but there's still a risk with that, so you often keep it around. I wouldn't say having something in 2 minutes vs an hour, but still needing to keep it around "fundamentally changes how you deal with media". Especially when you can freely stream a torrent using peerflix off a public tracker, but can't off a private one due to ratio concerns.

paol 9y ago

Unless I misunderstood you, none of that is relevant if you're not using index sites in the first place.

bubblethink 9y ago
I'm not sure if you can make magnet links work in a private tracker setting. Private trackers embed the user's key in the torrent file.
Ketchup901 9y ago
There is more of an incentive if you have a private site with a forum and community and you're not just releasing illegal shit onto the internet.
maratd 9y ago
> none of that is relevant if you're not using index sites in the first place One of the reasons that bittorrent has been successful and all the other protocols have failed is precisely because it allows for the use of private index sites. This allows for the creation of custom software that can provide all those extras (forums, comments, ratings, descriptions, etc.), but most importantly, user tracking. If you track the user, you can solve the sharing problem. For someone to download, someone else has to upload. Using index sites allows you to solve the hit-and-run problem, where someone just downloads, but then doesn't upload. You just ban those people. You then end up with a community where everyone plays nice, which leads to fast speeds and an eagerness to share content.
- problems 9y ago
  The "hit-and-run" problem turns out not to be that big of an issue really - there's so many public torrents out there and so many people that want the files that things mostly seem to work out just fine. Sure, you won't max gigabit like you will on some private stuff, but unless that's an absolute need, issues with public trackers are fairly rare. In fact I've occasionally found files with only a single peer or two on a private tracker which would barely download which were much more readily available on a public tracker.
  - maratd 9y ago
    > Sure, you won't max gigabit like you will on some private stuff, but unless that's an absolute need, issues with public trackers are fairly rare. Well, that's kind of the point. If you can download something that's 3GB in two minutes, it fundamentally changes how you deal with media. There's also the issue of security that I didn't mention. Public torrents are visible to everyone, so your download or upload is an action viewable to everyone. With private trackers, your actions are only viewable to the members.
    - problems 9y ago
      > Well, that's kind of the point. If you can download something that's 3GB in two minutes, it fundamentally changes how you deal with media. Not really in my experience. I'm a big usenet guy, but I still horde a local collection - if you're using a private tracker you don't want to be re-downloading things all the time because that'd cost you ratio and you still need to hold them long enough to upload them a fair bit. Usenet is really the closest you get to not needing to hoard, but there's still a risk with that, so you often keep it around. I wouldn't say having something in 2 minutes vs an hour, but still needing to keep it around "fundamentally changes how you deal with media". Especially when you can freely stream a torrent using peerflix off a public tracker, but can't off a private one due to ratio concerns.