advice How to get into private trackers and survive

[AKH]

HOE TO GET INTO PRIVATE TRACKERS AND SURVIVE 

 The first  thing you need to ask yourself is whether your needs are satisfied by what you currently have at  your disposal (DHT/public trackers (TPB and KAT), DDL, newsgroups, streaming, Soulseek, Tribler, DC++, Kad/eDonkey, sneakernet...among other things), because private trackers may not be actually worth your time, depending on what you want. Joining private trackers isn't hard, but it takes time. Do you just want that one specific file you've been searching in vain for weeks? If so, you'd be better off asking someone on /ptg/ (or /r/trackers) to snatch it for you and call it a day. Do you want to build a comprehensive library with consistent and superior quality such as good encodes, proper music tagging, retail ebooks? Then you should try to join one of the specialized trackers. Do you live in a copyright-cucked shithole and are afraid to get raped by the MPAA/RIAA and associates, but care little about music or HD? Then a general tracker should suit you. Depending on your goals, whether they are long-term and short-term and whether they are currently satisfied, the amount of time you will have to invest will vary.

1 ) OPEN-SINGUP TRACKERS : 

This is the easiest step. All trackers have to start small and build up a decent userbase before they can afford to limit entry, and thus some trackers are open to signup for a time. Numerous websites keep track of these (opentrackers.org, opentrackers.net, btracs.com, /r/OpenSignups), unless you're looking for something specific, just go to rutracker (rutracker.org). Yes, it's entirely in Russian, but who cares? All registration forms look the same, and you weren't going to post in the forums anyway, right? (More on that later). Rutracker is really nice because it's comprehensive, well-seeded and has high standards despite having very few ratio restrictions. In fact, 99% of the needs of most users are met there. If you are looking for porn, it is recommended to open pornolab (pornolab.net). Yes, it's in Russian too. Here's a guide from a Russian speaker to rutracker.

From now on, it is assumed that you are familiar with most top trackers in their respective niche; if you aren't, please consult the flowchart everyone's been passing around these days. Past this point, all trackers restrict random user registration to a limited number of cases, mostly invites from existing members and a few other special cases for some trackers:

2 ) PAY2PIRATE : 

Some trackers will invite you for a fee (most notably, IPTorrents). The idea is to prevent potential cheaters from abusing the system (in ways defined at the discretion of the staff) since any fuck-up would cost them their account, and thus their money. For reasons that would take too long to explain here, IPTorrents is generally despised by other reputed trackers and a proof of good ratio there won't open the way anywhere else. It is still a very large source of general content though.

3 ) APPLICATION : 

Some trackers have a special page with an application form in one way or another (most notably AnimeBytes and 32pages). Their goal is to keep a moderate influx of new members they can control by assessing your willingness to join and what you have to offer. Different trackers have different requirements: some will require proof of good ratio on other trackers, some will only require that you show genuine interest and good will in your application form even if you are new to the tracker scene. Some mostly care about what material you have to offer to the site. Try to be sincere, honest, lengthy and don't forget to provide an email address so they can notify you of their response.

4 ) INTERVIEW : 

A few trackers have an interview system; it means that you are going to join an IRC channel and answer questions to their staff. It's mostly a way to control members' origin as almost all of them will ask that you join from your home connection.

5 ) REDACTED INTERVIEW :

READ THIS GUIDE FOR REDACTED.CH and THIS ONE TOO before interviewing. Generally, the best way to get into good trackers. The interview is extensive and similar to what.cd (easier because the spectral analysis section appears to have been toned down). You can fail if you don't take this seriously. Currently, the most reputed tracker known to maintain an interview system (essentially the new what.cd)

6 ) MYANONAMOUSE INTERVIEW : 

This is more of a chat, questions are mostly about the rules, you will not pass or fail so there is no need to worry.

7 ) OPPAITIME : 

more of a chat, and questions are mostly about the rules.

8 ) BAKABT INTERVIEW :

More of a 3-minute chat about whether or not you understand the rules.

9 ) INVITE FORUMS :

Once you've established a good standing on one of the aforementioned trackers you've hopefully managed to get in, you will be able to move on to more restrictive ones. Most top trackers require new users to have a past of good standing (i.e. Power User or Elite user class) such as one that can be shown on a tracker whose staff they trust - the tracker scene is a small world, and tracker staff often cooperate (or fight) with each other. As such, there are recruitment threads on various trackers so they can exchange good-standing users for the benefit of all.

10 ) SUPER EXCLUSIVE SEKRIT KLUB : 

Once you've made it to the big ones, the rest is up to you - you may try to join some of the ultra-closed trackers such as EXIGO or HDBits (don't even try Art of Misdirection though) but at this point your needs should be pretty much covered unless you are looking for something really specific or just doing it for epeen.