There is a program called Replay Media Catcher [available in the appz here] that creates horrible mkv's. Some programs won't convert them and some won't play them. If you do get one to play you can just watch it fall apart to chaotic pixellation. This is the only program that I have trouble regarding MKV's. I wish people who use it would play their output before posting.
A
There has already been a question posted on GT.net wondering why the free registration is not open as advertised.
Some knowledgeable mod or admin with access there might want to give more info there and modify the GT.ru main page accordingly.
TR
@Uwe:
Getting a Private Message for each donation could result in floating the Inbox of members having upload quite a lot of torrents. (as far as I can see, the majority of torrents is upload by a rellatively small group of members, uploading regulary).
Everybody so far agreed that the "My torrent" list should show the amount of seed bonus points received as gift.
My experience and a quick examination of the first 20 pages of browse list shows that there is unlikely to be a "flood" of PM's for point donation. 0-4 pretty well covers the most likely range. Those same few posters are soon likely to discover that unacknowledged gifts don't get repeated - so the number of messages they receive will be reduced over time by their own discourtesy.
This may not be ideal for everyone but this is what I have done to solve this issue temporarily. I have 143 torrent uploads to date and it took me a while to set it up. I put my username at the bottom of every torrent upload description I have. So if I go to the search page and search for cumeaternc it will show me only the torrents I have uploaded. I originally did this to get an idea of what torrrents of mine are seeding well and how many times they have been snatched. By adding your name to your torrent uploads, you can sort them pretty much any way you want to. If you don't want to add you screenname then add a unique word or letter sequence that won't return hundreds of results like abcdefg. And yes it will show you how many seed bonus points you have recieved for each upload. It may not be a perfect solution but it works for me. Hope this helps.
Take Care
Brandon
GT.ru Staff
That's a good idea, but it doesn't tell you which seed point totals have changed. You still have to manually keep track of that and then identify the new donor if a point total has changed so you can acknowledge the gift. With 143 active uploads that must take quite a bit of time. :cheesy2:
I only have 21 currently active uploads and it takes a while to run through them to look for new points.
I (or any other non-power user) can't use your scheme with any degree of accuracy, since I can't browse for my DVD uploads (the majority - where I have gotten the vast majority of my donated points).
I have encountered two difficulties in acknowledging the gifts:
Figuring out who gave the points [easy soon after posting - harder later]
Sending thanks to those whose security settings don't let you see their member page
The listing of peers on the torrent page does not include a PM button until after the download is complete, so if the donor's security settings are such that you can't see their info and get to the "send message" link, you have to maintain a separate list to go back and check to see if they have completed the download so you can thank them using the PM button on the "completed" listing.
Posters sometimes complain about the lack of thanks they receive for their efforts. Acknowledging those thanks where someone has actually given seed points is the other, and more personal, side of that exchange and should be a priority for all posters. The more posts you have, the harder it is to maintain that courtesy.
The PM for each donation idea could solve both problems mentioned above:
It would identify all donors [especially delayed ones]
It could be structured to allow a reply directly to the donor
Or put a PM button on the listing of current seeders-leechers, not just the completions. Or put a PM button on the membership listing line next to the flag so you can send PM's directly without having to go to the member's page. I never heard of anyone complining about receiving a "Thank You" message.
I seriously doubt that any poster who is currently acknowledging the gifts would complain about the number of messages received since it would make their efforts easier and eliminate the possibility that a donor had been overlooked.
It would only be an annoyance for those that don't send thanks.
A couple of my donors seemed surprised that I took the time to contact them - indicating that it was the first thanks they received for their donations. That lack of courtesy could cause the flow of donations to dry up. Let's just make it easier to be polite.
TR
Hope you haven't forgotten about this. The topic had already moved to page 2.
I try to send a personal Thank You PM for each donation I receive (except for those who have blocked PM's and anonymous). It sometimes gets difficult to figure out which torrent has new points to get the new donor's name.
(If I've missed anyone - please accept my apologies.)
Maybe an auto-PM to the poster (like when a comment is added) could be done when points are given.
TR
And I have some evidence that it is a bigger factor than you might imagine.
It seems there would be two issues.
- How much does this jump-seeding occur?
My inclination was not much, but if you have evidence otherwise, it would be interesting to see.- How much does it really affect the ratio of others?
My rough mental calculations would suggest that a couple of jump-seeders wouldn't be much of a factor on a torrent with lots of leechers, unless they made up a significant percentage of the cloud. All things dissipate over large numbers. A jump-seeder is only contributing one extra copy to the cloud. If they seed to a ratio of 1.0 or so, not much impact. Far more likely of a problem, causing others difficulty getting to a higher ratio, is power-seeding, regardless if they got the file here or elsewhere. Power-seeders with strong upload ability can contribute many more copies to the cloud, which is really what throws off a ratio. There is another thread elsewhere in the forum where power-seeding is discussed more in depth.
I will use a torrent you uploaded as an example. (#47070)
Within a short time of you posting the torrent there were 11 seeders. I would guess that no more than 1 or 2 downloaded from here.
Anyone who does download from here will have to contend with the others to upload a significant ratio of what they have acquired here. It is not just your torrent, it is very widespread. And it is not just a matter of 1 or 2 jumping on.
If you want to test this, upload a torrent from another site and watch how many completions there are before you are anywhere near 1.0 on your torrent.
More complete info will be coming later (next month).
TR
@mgr:
.
.
.
For the new steps up to 0.8 in Version 2.2 - they are intended to reach Power User status a bit easier.
.
.
.All in all: Rationator 2.2 doesn't change ratio requirements for users with lower download traffic, but will make ratio keeping for user with high traffic a bit more easy.
Actually, 2.2 has absolutely no effect on making either easier.
TR
I think this kind of jump-on seeding would be hard to police. Regardless of the technical problems (which I leave to the more knowledgeable), the question of fairness isn't as cut and dry as you say. As example from my personal experience: I ripped one of my DVD's and posted it on another site. I was going to post here next, as soon as I had seeded enough on other site. When I got here, someone else who had DLed it at the other site had posted it here before me. So I added myself to the seeding pile, with a 0.0 DL of the file here. In your scenario that makes me bad, but I was the original ripper and poster. I am not complaining; I have posted files DLed from other sites occasionally as well. Just pointing out that things are rarely as simply as they can seem.
You do make a good point as the original ripper. But my question is why didn't you post to both at the same time? That would have avoided the problem. I have seen quite a few who do that.
… If they got it elsewhere, they probably took a hit to their ratio there (if the elsewhere has ratios). So they couldn't play the transference game long. And its a lot of trouble to go to on any sort of sustained basis.
They could have continued seeding at the other site, while also jumping on the post here.
Also, whoever posted the torrent here has their leech/seed connections number limited. These additional seeders are not so restricted. They could have any number of these going.
And I have some evidence that it is a bigger factor than you might imagine.
TR
TR
–-
While the tracker may not show it accurately on the seeders/leechers page for a torrent, I think you will find that it does show the DL value accurately for each individual torrent on the user's own page.
TR
How about some limitation on seeding torrents acquired elsewhere but posted here by someone else?
For example - look at: http://tracker.gaytorrent.ru/details.php?id=47070&dllist=1#seeders
At the time I viewed it 16 of the 26 seeders had 0.0 kb downloaded for that torrent, meaning they got it from somewhere else.
Look at the ratios for the people who did download it from here or are in the process of downloading. There is very little liklihood they will ever be able to get a decent ratio for that torrent.
I have no problem with the original torrent poster having 0.0 because he took the time to share it here, but the others are just jumping in to inflate their own ratios at the expense of others who might need to upload.
How about having the tracker reject all such attempts if the person's ratio is over 1.0 and he is not the poster? Give the rest of us a chance to give back what we download.
At least limit the number of such active "seeders" after there are actual completions here.
I wonder how many power users got their status this way?
TR
Just thought I would move this topic up so it doesn't get auto-locked for not being used.
Maybe mods could make it sticky.
TR
No, spike2123, it wasn't spam.
What you received were the 2.1 values in effect until sometime around noon July 1, when they were suddenly changed to the new values.
You have to ignore the date associated with the new values in the currently visible forum post.
You were probably sent the old values by a mod who was not informed of the change in advance and was left just as much in the dark as the rest of the members prior to implementation.
You could not have "missed" the new values because they weren't there until the afternoon of July 1.
TR
I just received the following System generated message:
–----------
_From System at 2009-07-01 13:09:14 (1 hour ago) GMT (NEW!)
Hello ThrobbinRod,
This is an automated warning being issued by Rationator2.0 because your share ratio is currently only 0.723
These warnings are issued to discourage unfair leeching behavior.
Your current download is 1.71 TB and your required minimum ratio is 0.8. (See this Forum Thread).
You need to seed additional 133.98 GB to attain your current minnimum ratio of 0.8
A couple of easy ways to improve your ratio are:
1. Seed torrents with a lot of leechers, or torrents with very few or no other seeders.
2. Upload a new torrent - make sure you use search to prevent duplicates, and make sure that you are not seeding or leeching anything else until 3 or 4 others have snatched the complete file (Read the rules!)
3. The easiest way to improve you ratio is to click on the Donate button on the top blue stripe. Make a contribution to the site to help defray the hundreds of dollars a month it costs to keep this site on the internet.
If your share ratio has not reached the minimum 0.8 ratio in 45 days, your Download rights will be terminated until you get your ratio up.
This is the only warning you will receive. If you have any questions or problems, contact one of the Moderators!_
–------------
Have we reverted to the 2.0 values?
An announcement would have been nice.
I've struggled for the past month not to lose too much ground and now the bar has been moved.
TR
Well, my thought would be that if I were one of the people wanting one of the 8 torrents you are not actively seeding and you are the only seeder the tracker lists for them (or all others adopt the same tactic), you prevent the DL'er from using the reseed request to try to get an active uploader.
I have run across cases where there are over 200 "active" torrents "uploading" for a user, but nobody can use the reseed request option on many of those. Instead, they must manually go through the list of the most recent completers and ask for help.
In fairness to other users, either allow active uploading or stop the torrent and get off the tracker list so users can get to use the reseed request feature. Remember, you'll get a request also if it's needed, so you'll know what seeding is actually wanted.
TR
OK. An admin has replied so I'll respond point by point.
@mgr:
Let me make (and tell) some things clearly: (Sorry if it's going a bit technical at times).
OK, I found the answer - the rollover popups are created by this java applet hard coded to some pages.
at first: as you can see from your code snippet: that is no jave applet but "only" a javascript (Javascript is embedded (and mostly activated) in nearly every modern browser). Java applets on the other hand need the java runtime evironment and are something completely different. As you can also see - the source of that advertising is not our server but our ad-partner (src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php…") so the only "embdded by the staff" action is to put your cited code snippet on the page.
I did goof when I used the word applet. But you admitted two things:
1. The code is there because the admins agreed to place it there
2. The code sends members' IP data out of the GT-RU site
If the pop-up ads were hosted on the GT-RU servers, then members' data would never need to leave the site.
The code also contains a string that will allow servers at adbrite to link the IP address to a gay torrent site's HTML page.
Adbrite is in business to make money. I feel safe in saying that they will find some way to sell that linked data to their advertisers. Thus that IP address will be linked to someone with interest in gay material.
@mgr:
Since it automatically contacts the adbrite server, the IP address of any member is transferred to adbrite
every time you go to the home page or login.Your IP address is sent with each and every request you make with your browser (or any other Internet related program) - where else can the server know where to send his answer to your request?
Like amice told correctly - your ISP is the only one who can put together your personal data and your IP - also in Germany a judge is needed to force your ISP to divulge that data, not even the police alone (without a judge's decision is allowed to ask for that connection. Just to say it again: If you use any kind of the internet - your IP is open to the whole world - something you have to (or should) know before using the internet.
So I can't agree with the conclusion:
@ThrobbinRod:This is terrible security for the members!
Sadly, you are wrong. Almost everywhere else on the internet can be accessed through a proxy. Many members here are denied that extra security shield.
Some of us run two torrent programs. One here where our true IP is exposed and another where proxies are allowed. Since the policy here is not to allow some proxies, one might assume that extra care would be taken to protect member's IP data. They would be wrong.
As an example, see above where a global mod admitted accessing my IP data, although doing so was not necessary to the discussion. A moderator should have no reason to see a member's address. That should be left to admins.
@mgr:
a second point: do you have an impression how much our server lease is each month? That is the reason we use (and need) advertising. There are not many advertising companies who accept ads from a gay torrent site or accept a gay torrent site as an advertisding partner. OK - there are some of them - but with much more aggressive advertising than adbrite.com. Or do you like advertising with a huge automatic popup window that covers you complete screen or opening a lot of new windows in your browser? I for sure don't like advertising at all much less agressive advertising.
As a "last resort" against advertising: All donators have the option to switch off advertising.
No, we don't know how much it costs, but unless you are willing to share that info and the revenue stream info from adbrite, it's unfair to moan about it.
We are not stupid. We know it costs money. That's why some of us donate.
By the way, donators' data is still sent to adbrite from the main and login pages since they haven't yet been identified as donators. Otherwise I, a donator, would never have seen the problem.
Neither OurGTN nor Gay-Torrents have any advertising on their login pages. Just here.
@mgr:
As I told before - the advertising source is from adbrite.com, not from us. In this case it is adbrite who decided to implement those trick in their advertisement. Now that leaves only two solutions for us: either drop adbrite as our advertisement partner (and try to get money elsewhere - any solution is welcome) or keep them (and get some money to pay for our servers.
It is the admins who decided to allow them to implement this "trick". You have quite a few members, and do have some negotiating leverage. Use it. Tell them your members have concerns about the script and security.
Solution 1: Negotiate with adbrite for click-only ads. (Their response to that request will tell a great deal about what they do or intend to do with members' IP data. Since advertisers usually only pay an ad agency like adbrite for actual appearances by browsers hits to their sites, revenue loss from this site would be negligible and server costs would go down due to less data being pulled.)
Solution 2: Require adbrite not to keep any record of IP data from info sent as a request from the java scripts on this site and not to transfer that data to any other souce. If they balk at that you can be certain member's IP data is being sold.
In that case, you really need to look for another advertiser and warn all members their data has been compromised.
At a minimum, please pull this ad script off the login page.
Another solution might be to implement a system where the donator class has a time limit as will as a seed bonus attached.
Say 3 months for minimal donation, increasing with the size of the donation, as the seed bonus does. That might help to reduce the need for ad revenue. Right now 5 euros sets you for life.
Now if some kind admin or mod can delete the item above which is all quotes that I was unable to edit to this response because there is some time limit on edits, I would appreciate it.
Don't forget to vote in the poll!
May Saints Sergius and Bacchus bless you!
(See hxxp://www.colfaxrecord.com/detail/91429.html)
TR
On at least the main page and the login page, there is a javascript that makes certain words links to an advertiser's site that then causes pop-up adds to appear whenever the mouse passes over these words.
In order for this to operate, your computer passes its' IP address to the outside advertiser because of coding written into the GT-RU pages by the staff.
I hope other members like myself feel this is a betrayal of trust and will register their disappointment with the administration by removing the script.
Voluntary links that require intentional clicking are one thing. This is entirely different since members cannot even get into GT-RU without involuntarily sending the info since the script exists on the login page.
lol, sorry but i could not help myself… every single peer in a swarm (torrent file with active peers) can see your IP address. what do you expect from revealing your IP address? i can see your IP too and i have absolutely no clue who you are, where you live or how you look like. i understand that you may be scaried with reading some paranoic texts on internet, but hey, come on. if you are not doing something illegal and you keep your PC safe (router / firewall / whatever) there is no need to worry.
I'm really disheartened that a global moderator thinks it's funny that members IP addresses are sent outside the GT-RU site where the admins have no control over who gains access to this information.
I know that peers can see info, but you as an admin can access (and apparently have) info linking IP to member name, something regular members can't do. (Or the FAQ that states this is no longer possible is inaccurate.)
All the admin has to do is delete the information between the
OK, I found the answer - the rollover popups are created by this java applet hard coded to some pages.
Since it automatically contacts the adbrite server, the IP address of any member is transferred to adbrite
every time you go to the home page or login.
This is terrible security for the members!
Does anyone else see a pop-up appear very briefly when login page appears?
I just had it occur twice and it doesn't appear on other web sites.
It's there and gone too fast to read.
TR
Amended: These are roll-over ads linked to certain words on both the home page and the login page.
I guess my question is whether the site placed them there or do I have some hidden proggy that is doing it?
TR
I also like new look.
However, everything in the upper left corner (including "logout" link) is missing on all "Browse" pages except first.
Also all uploaders after first page of "Browse" are "Anonymous".
But - nice look overall, just a few kinks.
====================
10 minutes later:
In the time it took to type the above the problem(s) ceased. Somebody is very quick.
Again, congrats on new look.
Just a couple of thoughts on things effecting me and what I have observed in the log.
I know I am just a newbie, but I don't understand why several torrents are being deleted the same day they are being posted. If it's because there are no seeders/leechers, maybe the original seeder is down for the night and so are the few leechers who have hooked up.
I guess I am saying that maybe a couple of days should pass before the plug is pulled on a new torrent to give it time to get going.
Also, a torrent was recently posted that was a different version (2/3 the size) of a previously posted torrent. That is clearly allowed by the posted rules, but it was deleted and I got stuck with a 75% complete download. I went to the previous version and now have <1.0 kbs and 0.5% download in @2 hours. This is going to take forever and I am the only leecher, so there is no one to share with.
If "dead" torrents are going to be deleted, shouldn't the criterion include looking at the last activity? Look at all the seeds with no leeches at the bottom of the browse list that could
easily be dropped to reduce server activity since those unused threads are constantly updating and clogging the server needlessly. If there has been no download activity for 2 or 3 months, dump it.
Again, just a couple of thoughts.
Rod