Although I can understand the reasoning that gatomaluco brings up, I certainly do not subscribe (although I respect it) to the subsequent reaction, that is, abandoning a torrent because the membership or the leechers do not behave as one would like them or expect them too.
I don't need to remind anyone that this world is full of opportunists, and torrenting is a microcosm that reflects this.
Anywhere you will find those that leech and run, or those that give poor bandwidth but take all they can from those willing to be more generous.
The only difference between many other sites and here, is that in this site those people do not get punished (banned or blocked in their downloads).
This place chose to be an open site, for more than one reasons...there was even a vote some time ago, and most members voted for keeping it public (open), that is, letting guests leech too.
I believe that this has a double advantage:
for one, it helps keep torrents alive... in sites that let only members download (and force them to keep high share ratios), at one point there will be those that won't be able to get leechers (we experienced this here too when we made it private for a while)
Instead, here any member can always reopen a torrent for there will always be some leechers (guests) that will eventually download it.
This method currently proved to be a winning one, for if you check in the Tracker, you will find torrents that are still running, with many leechers, since 2006 or 2007 (like the Cranberries, Usher, Kraftwerk, Bowie's Bridge Benefit, and many many others).
Also, instead of sitting for months on a torrent waiting for someone to arrive and give us back some credit to enhance our ratio, we just periodically check our torrents and if there is one needing a seeder, we join back...or the leechers can ask for a seed in the forum and usually they get someone that lends them a hand.
The second advantage is that this method gives freedom to the users...if they want to lurk and remain guests, fine...if they are a little more motivated and want to enhance participation in the site, they may sign up and become members...not to be able to download only (for they can do that as guests, as Bonofan points out
), but to be able to participate and get some little advantage and reward for it (getting useful credits or becoming VIP members, without having to...buy the title
).
Since what really makes a site flourish and grow is participation, this must be acquired having
motivated members that sign up...and rewarding them for what they do, instead of forcing them to do it.
What's the use of imposing a registration to be able to dl if the people that register will not participate anyway?
Just to keep control and ratio enforcement?
True, they could be forced to keep decent ratios in that way, but we have seen that in the end many of the (small) sites that do that do not get more participation and their torrents are often dead...not to mention the forums, which have little or no activity.
I could list more advantages for this choice...like personally having seen how many guests at one point decide to become members because they like what they got or the site itself, or because they feel grateful..new faces coming in here, and of course new people means new ideas and participation.
So...what in the end it all comes to is that there will always be a few people that have an ethic in torrenting, and a more numerous number that simply don't give a shit and just grab and run...well, this is the point: I just don't care if they do that. It's everywhere, in every aspect of life.
While if, by giving them a chance to be here, they may learn something or even change their attitude, this will be more than a reward for me.
If not...who cares: there will always be those that we care for and that keep helping and participating, and we can have a good time together.
But of course all this does not mean that it'll have to be
always like this. In any time, if this will not be a winning philosophy, we might even go back to being a more Private site...depending on circumstances and situations
Getting back to this torrent...it's an 8 GB torrent, and these are the most difficult ones, for only a few will seed to get all those 8GB back, it takes too long...so most of those that get it, disappear or being greedy for more stuff keep low speeds (and not only guests).
I know this, for I'm seeding a NIN dvd (Dual Layer) since months now, and noone that gets it remains seeding for more than a few days...and I get back there to help the new ones (if I feel like it). And I assure you it happened with many big sized torrents before.
In this case, since there were people that never completed (I started and stopped my dl when I saw there was no seeder), I really appreciate your decision to come back and help, gatomaluco, for it's true that it's a shame to see such a great torrent being orphaned.
Btw...although some users may have shown a less generous attitude regarding your uploads, there were many of us who not only appreciated them very much, but that also showed some gratitude...in more than one way
P.S. Hey...btw...I'm at work now and I can't restart the dl, so keep this puppy running for some more, for I really would like to be able to see it!
