The torrent syndicate, founded in 2015, is now in its seventh year. None of us would have expected in 2015 that this project would flourish and develop in this direction. The demand for TS accounts is still very high. The fact that we still do not accept applications and only distribute invites very restrictively is certainly not an insignificant factor. However, we are not interested in growth at any price, as other projects may be pursuing. Quality instead of quantity is still our motto.

We have tried many things over the years and learned a lot from it. Be it new features or rule changes. Some worked well, some not so well. Since there is little empirical value and ready-made software solutions in this business, a lot is based on in-house developments and practical tests. No matter how carefully these are planned and designed in advance, the practice can later be completely different. For this reason, we have to constantly question ourselves and regularly review (new) functions critically.

Even if things looked a little quieter this year in terms of development, it's actually the other way around. At the beginning of the year we introduced a new forum. After that, nothing (new) came for a long time.

In the middle of the year we were faced with significant performance problems due to a sharp increase in the number of users, peers and torrents. At such a point there are always two options: You can throw money at the problem (more RAM, more CPU, more bandwidth, etc.) or you can evaluate the infrastructure and consider whether the problem can also be solved with software adjustments can be.
We can't spend more money because we don't have any. So only the second option remained. With new software and the associated code adjustments, we have succeeded in redistributing the resources available to us, optimizing existing processes and thereby freeing up previously occupied resources. However, this meant that other further developments had to be postponed.

Nevertheless, we continue to pursue our long-term plan. Next on the agenda is still a new interface for the website. This will be fully responsive and suitable for mobile devices. The launch is planned for the first quarter of 2023 and will also mark the completion of our 2020 roadmap. Only three years late is actually not so bad. lol

Based on the experiences of the last few years, we have become very careful when announcing new features. Unplanned problems often come up or an idea that was originally thought to be good turns out to be impractical afterwards. For this reason, we will refrain from making concrete plans and announcements at this point and in the future. Suffice it to say: We have plans for at least 7 more years

However, after the introduction of the new user interface in Q1/2023, we also expect some problems. It is not easy to design a website for different screen resolutions and devices. You can test some things beforehand, but not everything. In industry, such problems are usually left to some framework. However, since our software was always tailor-made here and we still have no interest or resources in bringing larger dependencies in-house, this is still not an option.
At this point it should be pointed out that your browser should not be too old for the upcoming update of the user interface. We don't have the time or inclination to support any 2018 browser software with 13,000 fallbacks.

Even after the introduction of the new interface, there will be no major innovations for the time being. Instead, we will increasingly focus on improving, expanding or possibly even eliminating existing features. A lot has accumulated over the years that urgently needs a general overhaul.

We also have a few final things on our own behalf.

We are still looking for qualified personnel for various positions. We depend on volunteers for many parts of our daily operations. We all have our own jobs and families, which means that we can only invest a limited amount of time per day in this project. Many may take this service for granted or believe that the shop here runs all by itself. Of course that is not correct. Anyone who would like to support us can take a look at the open positions and submit an application: https://torrent-syndikat.org/forum/v...?threadId=5758

Some attentive users have already noticed that the URL of our announcement has changed (old: torrent-syndikat.org/ts_ann.php, new: ulo.torrent-syndikat.org/ts_ann.php). This is not a bug, nor is it a cause for concern. These are only preparatory measures for the expansion and further improvement of our infrastructure. More on this if necessary elsewhere.

And last but not least, we would like to draw attention to our annual Christmas tree competition. As always, there are a few prizes to be won and some beautifully decorated trees come out of it every year.

With that in mind, we raise our glasses to everyone who supports the torrent syndicate in any way. Be it as a team member, as a product editor, as a member of a release group, as an uploader or as a simple user. The syndicate sees itself as a collective. No single user stands above it. Together we make this tracker what it is. There are just different areas of responsibility and positions. Ultimately, we only provide a platform and a few rules. What happens to it and what comes out of it is largely in the hands of the community.

Happy Birthday Torrent Syndicate!