Originally Posted by PoeJay

Oh, let me add. Even if you get onto a good private tracker, you should still probably have access to a tracker like Demonoid. You can get all of the older files from Demonoid and even some of the larger files (compilations...seasons....etc). That way you don't risk messing up your ratios downloading stuff that have no leeches for you to seed. So, then you can just stick to downloading new stuff (seedable stuff) on the private trackers and get all the old junk from Demonoid where your ratio is so extremely easy to keep up. Thats it.

Certainly, Demonoid has a lot of content but there are many hit and runners so it is a very low level tracker because the speeds are slow nothing compared to Zamunda.

Originally Posted by MrToyoTaco

I didn't see your post before. Do you have PTN invites?

I do not have invites...sorry

Yes, absolutely. But Zamunda and Demonoid are both essentially public trackers (open reg), particularly when you are comparing them to HDBits and the like. My point was that a lot of people want to get trackers like HDBits because they think that they are going to get a whole new great source of files over something like Zamunda or Demonoid, but I don't think that that is the right way to be going into ones search for a private tracker like HDBits.

For instance, I can download stuff much faster with Zamunda and Demonoid than I can with HDBits. I have much more to choose from with Zamunda and Demonoid than I do with HDBits. I never have any trouble seeding on Zamunda and Demonoid...in fact I have to reduce my upload throughput with Zamunda and Demonoid least I drown out my seeding on my private sites (like HDBits), so there is definitely no ratio problems. Zamunda and Demoniod have a huge selection of old junk that private trackers dump. Most people don't download old junk on private trackers anyway cause there are so few leeches and it hurts your ratio. Larger files are also difficult for people to download off of private trackers. With HDBits on many of my seeds I might get uploads of about 10kBps on some file (sharing the seed with many other seeders) and that is a huge amount of time trying to get back the 80GB that you used up downloading some large file.

Yes, the private trackers will get stuff sooner. But we are not talking about weeks or even days here. When people tended to belong to one site or another then things didn't propagate through so quickly, but today people belong to all of the sites and things pass down to Zamunda and Demonoid sometimes within minutes. The advantages with private trackers over Zamunda and Demonoid do exist. Like repackaged files and sheer junk are deleted quickly, so you don't have to spend all day downloading 10 copies of the same file before you find the good one that you are looking for (quality wise). There are less viruses and that is always a plus. Of course, the more private a tracker is the less likely it will be for you to get in trouble (if you are doing naughty things like downloading movies or music...shame on you). But in general it isn't the actual files that are available that should draw people to a private tracker. If that is the only reason you are looking for a private tracker then you probably will be disappointed.

My recommendation would be to get on a private tracker, but download new seedable stuff (<9GB files sizes). If you want older stuff...or large files...or new stuff that might not seed well...then check Zamunda and Demonoid first...if you can't find it there then get it from the private tracker. In this approach, I think you will find that most of the stuff you download will come from Zamunda or Demonoid. I think you will find that a lot of the private tracker stuff you download is just to keep your ratio up and you didn't even want it. But you will also find that some files you got from the private trackers you could not get anywhere else and they might make it all worth while.

Of course, if you are using your own personal IP without a VPN, or some such approach to hiding your IP, then you might want to stick with the private trackers. The unprotected use of Zamunda and Demoniod will likely get you a call from your ISP warning you (or a very unwelcome knock on your door).

Yes, good Zamunda the page, but is much smaller than Demonoid

the 4 largest general tracker:

Zamunda: 103,000 active torrents (first row for Bulgarian users)
torrent411: 120,000 active torrents
Demonoid: 380.000 active torrents
RuTracker: 1 + million active torrents

Yes, RuTracker likely has the largest collection of torrents, but I wasn't trying to debate which open-reg tracker is best. All I was trying to say was that a lot of people go looking for trackers like HDBits thinking that they are going to gain access to some huge selection of files that they can't get through any of these more public (open-reg) trackers. That isn't really the case. There are other reasons to join a private tracker like HDBits, but files is not really the main reason. You can get all or more files using RuTracker (or Zamunda or Demonoid...or whatever the next persons says is a good open-reg tracker). That was all I was trying to say.

I am pleased with the response of this thread. It's really helped me out with understanding what's out there. I didn't know that certain sites were so specialized.