Apologies if this is a basic question, but I am curious to know what I am missing out on by not having access to private torrents? I have been able to find everything I wanted using public ones.
Download speed. Many users of these trackers will use seedboxes to build ratio. This generally results in a faster download speed for peers.
Security. Many (but not all) private trackers have strict entry barriers, such as invite only or application based signups. This keeps copyright trolls out of their swarms, which eliminates the need for a vpn or other method of masking your identity. Depending on where you live this can range from a nicety to a necessity.
Longevity. Torrents generally live longer on private trackers.
Community. Some private trackers have a forum or IRC channel where you can interact with other community members.
Availability. Many private trackers will have a wider range of releases of a single media.
Quality. You will generally find higer quality releases on private trackers. That's not to say that high quality releases don't make it to public trackers, some do and some don't.
Faster releases. Releases will typically come to private trackers first. May torrents originate on these trackers or come from scene groups and trickle down.
If you're finding everything you want on public trackers then you probably aren't missing anything. You could test the waters on TL or something next time they open.
I frankly disagree. If I were to write a list of benefits of using private trackers (ergo, actually directly answer OP's question), that's exactly how I would write it and I'd very likely use a similar writing style.
Further, ChatGPT doesn't use the "<Topic>. <Further elaboration on topic>" format from what I've seen, and IMO wouldn't finish out the post with a recommendation to OP how they could get their feet wet with a particular private tracker.
As a non-AI Learning Model, I cannot conclude one way or the other with any certainty. What I can say is that ChatGPT responses tend to follow a similar pattern:
Consistent and clear responses: ChatGPT will often respond to prompts with very readable, well-formatted bulleted lists
Socratic reasoning: Items in those lists will have a logical structure from beginning to end
Finally, ChatGPT responses tend to end those lists with a summarizing statement that restates the previous ideas - that ChatGPT will often respond in lists, use a formal and logical writing style, and end with a concise summary of the previous statements.
It's too bad I already wrote like that before ChatGPT was public. For fun I put in an essay of mine from a couple of years back into a detector that told me parts were generated by AI ☠️
Fuck, apparently I write like ChatGPT. I didn't think anything was off about the original comment because I write in a very similar way. Information is always structured under headers or in bulleted lists.
A more charitable interpretation is that the text that people thought would best train ChatGPT tended to be thoughtful and well-written posts like yours. Maybe you don't write like ChatGPT, but ChatGPT writes like you.
These are all great points, but I just wanted to add to the point about security that private trackers are typically very good about managing/minimizing the prevalence of malware on their platforms, whereas public trackers can have all sorts of fun surprises depending on what you're searching for.
Oink was awesome - strict rules on formats (FLACs. V0's - no transcodes) , sharing ratios so everyone had to seed, pretty sure they had rules on file and folder structure. Used to love getting full discographies from there.
For me, the principal benefit is content quality. For example, on movies you'll have the best possible release for every resolution, without having to go through every version and finding one that suits you.
Lifetime of torrents, honestly I rarely have dead torrents on private trackers. Also, most of them send an alert to previous seeders telling them one torrent needs some seeds. So for that it's WAY better than public.
Niche contents, I'm into rare movies and some movies are only available on private trackers (unfortunately), so yeah, for me no choice. Though I really miss VXT releases on RARBG :(.
Except that.. Not much. I think I still would keep my seedbox if I was on public trackers. Private or public, we all have to do our jobs and participate in seeding what we got :)
I was using different private trackers but in the end dropped them and went back to public ones. One thing that private trackers may offer is the forum or the discussion board and plenty of user generated content. But in general there are many negative points:
the drama: lots of users feel entitled and there is a very negative attitude towards newcomers
less security: there was a time when an italian private tracker was caught and ended up giving the name and data of few active users. I don't buy that you have to use a legit email and no vpn.
you have to pay for a seedbox and always track your ratio: I seed forever most stuff (4k+ torrents) but I don't want this to become a time sink
Private trackers and Usenet rules for most general access to media content piracy. I disagree that torrent communities are entitled, access to knowledge via libraries is not entitlement.
If you're looking to go one step further up the foodchain feel free to invest in your skills and company, you might find some valuable people to network with as you give more.
Counterpoint to these is that you don't have to participate in the drama, many allow you to use a VPN, and seedboxes aren't mandatory and you can just as easily permaseed to build ratio (via bonus points). What you say is true of some trackers but not with any that I've joined.
You also get access to a broad repository of the history of a particular torrent. Like ever preferred a really obscure version of your favorite torrent? Probably impossible to find unless it was a really popular Vidya game and there's a legacy torrent still seeding.
I've still got a Myanonamouse (Private Book Tracker) account purely because there are certain editions of books that quite literally don't exist in print except as a used copy on Amazon. But because some degenerate decided to commit all their scans to a Seedbox, ebook versions of obscure early science fiction now exist.
Very niche, but also incredibly useful if you come across something that you just can't find elsewhere.
If you are able to get all the content you need from public trackers and you don't worry about copyright agancies tracking you than there's no reason for you at all to bother with private trackers.
I agree and went with the same route. One thing that private trackers may offer is the forum or the discussion board and plenty of user generated content
It's my personal opinion that a lot of piracy, much like the old XDA rom scene is essentially more for archival purposes and keeping an organised library and friend group relevant to the hobby, than it is actual theft
they are properly moderated so no fake torrents or malware (and anyone trying to upload those is immediately banned)
many have rules about formats, nfo files - another guarantee that your file is what it says it is
duplicates are not usually allowed - eg if an album already exists in FLAC format, you can’t upload another one
ratio requirements mean people almost always seed, and many use seed boxes which means speed is much faster. Movies download to my seed box in a couple of seconds typically.
Effectively, there is no benefit. But if you are looking for really niche stuff you can't find on public trackers, you might have success on a private one with a focused category of torrents
Some private trackers are shady. Even if you seed, they might undercount your contribution and ask for money. If that happens, it's a scam, just walk away.
People say IPT does this it I’ve been a member for 10 years + and never had this. Never paid a penny. The key is to build a buffer - my ratio is some thing 8:1. Don’t donate, use the money to pay for a seed box, add some big free leech torrents (game packs, tv packs are usually solid choices) and just seed them forever. Free leech won’t impact your download total but will add your seed ratio.
What a lot of new users do is go crazy, build a massive ratio deficit and can never recover.
The main thing for me is that Private Trackers, because they incentivise continued seeding, will maintain greater activity for older torrents. People are even given bonus incentives for seeding content that has few seeders. As a result, older content and torrents that would be long dead in public trackers are still alive and well in the private ones, and when they become relevant again can be brought back to the public trackers.
Well, imagine private trackers being like subreddits or magazines in the Fediverse. There are private torrent communities that only share TTRPG books, files for FVX/Motion Graphics, Art/Photography books, Magazines from a certain era, STL files for 3D printing, etc. And all of these trackers have very strict filters for both posters and visitors so the quality of the content is top-notch.
In these trackers, there is stuff that you won't find elsewhere, period. Talking from experience... Good luck finding scans of Spanish tech/video game magazines from the 90s/00s, or copyrighted stuff like precise 3D models of Nintendo Switch's Joycon shells, out in the common web.
My problem has been that I don't have any idea where to begin to look for these or get access.
I use a VPN, I have subscriptions to Usenet hosts and nzb trackers. I seed aggressively, especially stuff with low seeds or that I generally just think should be shared. But apparently not in the scene enough or tried hard enough to figure out a place that even has stuff I want besides the public ones.
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