Are some people just defective?

[kim c]

Greed isn't governed by any biological imperatives.

They rhyme with juice.

[[email protected]]

I didn't sign anything when I joined any tracker. Do you think a click-box is equivalent to a signature? Even if I had signed anything, there isn't a contract that a torrent tracker could hold me to, especially considering most torrent trackers try to stay as far away from laws as they can.

My monitor is covered in ink from signing for my online purchases, so forgive me if I read that wrong, but 1) there is a contract, with the torrents given in consideration of your acceptance of the rules, 2) or there is no consideration and therefore no contract, 3) or perhaps consideration is an antiquated concept so it does not matter, 4) maybe there is a contract, but it is unenforceable because it is contrary to law, and any judge would leave you both in pari delicto, 5) but there is one thing for certain, clicking is acceptance of the terms and conditions on a torrent site just as they are on an ecommerce site.

[CBOLAR]

A lot of the "old timers" around here have gotten skeptical about people who have "made mistakes" in the past and the ability of those people to start acting like "good" members of the community.

In other threads, I have tried to defend these people and the possibility of redemption (at least in terms of this community). I am still not ready to abandon people who have made mistakes, I probably never will. If I can help someone be a better member of the community, then I will certainly do my best. All I need is some shred of proof that they are truly making an effort. I don't even expect great results- if my efforts were to help, say, 1 in 5 people I think it would be worth the effort. Maybe I am a nOOb, an idealist, or maybe just a fool...

Anyway, I would not be here if I did not believe I could ultimately do some good. I like this community, its people and its rewards. Other than an insatiable desire for thought-provoking conversation and good friends, my needs have been met. Seriously- I grab True Blood every Sunday. It was available on 3 of my trackers at the same time! About an hour later, the HD version was available. Most other media is distributed in the same manner.

There seems to be an element in every group, community, city, country, etc., however, that cannot, to save their lives, just be an honest, respectable member of that group. Sometimes I understand why the cynics are the way they are.:angry:

So what is it with these people who have been banned from every tracker that they have ever been on, who get involved in trading, cannot follow a single rule of a site or show simple respect/appreciation to someone who helped them? Is there some kind of social defect? Do they not know how to be part of a community? I might be able to understand if we were sharing finite, tangible resources, but what we have here is infinitely reproducible. There will never be a shortage of any kind!

And really...of all the communities one could join, the requirements here are very, very minimal...seed back what you take...don't trade...don't cheat the tracker (how stupid is that one?)...don't spam or flame...respect the mods. There really isn't that much more. Those are the basics- how about the "advanced" stuff? make some posts that don't involve requests...help your fellow members with their questions...read the news section and make some comments...don't lie or deceive someone who is trying to help you!!!

Like I said, I am not ready to give up. Actually, my post have resulted in some very nice PM's. Ultimately, that type of response has made my efforts worthwhile. And I will never know if I have helped new members be more responsible from the start.

I would just like to know what is at the core of the people who just don't understand community. This is the ultimate in a "giving" group- the rewards outweigh the costs exponentially. Someone who is "connected" in this community literally has access to all forms of digital media, past, present, and future. Is it asking so much for these people to follow the minuscule rules of conduct around here?

And, please, don't get me wrong- I do not feel like Atlas. I have only been here a few months and I know that I will never do as much for this community as some of the "old timers" have. This is a great community and it would not be nearly as good without those members. Mostly, I am just looking for some insight that people have gained over the years as they have seen nOObs, scammers, liars, cheats, etc. and hundreds, if not thousands, of good members come and go.

End of (mild) rant. :frusty:

MBM

[Neisha]

Autism imo.

Honestly though, I believe it has all and everything to do with levels. Levels, levels, and more levels. That WTAW thread should seriously be removed.

I believe with a little bit of effort on sites such as demonoid or IPT, you can work your way up to TL. Great speeds and content, incredibly easy to seed. For the average user, you will never need more content than whats there. Maybe if you are particularly interested in certain content, you could find a niche tracker such as bmtv, bcg, whatever to fit your interest. But when people see WTAW threads and drool over sites such as UK-T, FTN, FTWR which they will probably never ever get in their lifetime, they turn to trading.

Trading results from being unable to access their "leet" and "rare" sites. Threads like WTAW overhype and glorify rare trackers, even when they may have less content and worse speeds than more common ones. In response, these leet sites cut off invites even more to combat traders and collectors, just exacerbating the problem even more.

As for cheaters, some people are just lazy. But it also has to do with this craze to get into higher trackers, where 99% of the users have seedboxes, and they don't know how to seed after coming off demonoid with a 500 ratio. What do they do then to download from their favorite rare tracker? Cheat =/

PS: It is very disheartening to spend a good couple of minutes thinking and typing out a post, only to submit it and see its only a fraction of the size of your massive post

[gerryfiore]

I would like to thank everyone for their thoughtful responses! I really wasn't sure how people would take my post. I do think that greed, envy, sloth, (hey I've heard these mentioned somewhere before) all play into the human condition IRL and online. It makes sense that these characteristics would show themselves more readily with the anonymity afforded here.

I look forward to discussing this further, but I have just literally rolled out of bed (and yes, I did drink a decent amount of Smirnoff's Red (80 proof)before making my post last night.

[IDNSFG818]

yea.. that comes in handy when ya have a lot too say and you don't chat on IRCs.. :lol:

/me wonders who you are now....PM me in the irc to tell me (that is, if you know who I am :O )

[Twilightgirl022]

:ermm:

Justice will be served.

?

[shivy]

like whom? i haven't seen an old timers around here in months

For the OP old timer might mean something else than to you. He prolly doesn't realise that this site is 7 years old afaik.

Anyway to the problem at hand. IMO a large percentage of traders do it because of the language barrier. For some people learning and improving their language skills is hard. For me it's easy and fun, but I've helped people with such problems in my country and most of you here can't imagine the amounts of effort they put into improving it.

stoi once mantioned that people from Egypt for example are used to haggle for everything. That might be a factor also.

As for cheating, a lot of people I know in RL that are torrenters consider it something natural. :dabs:

[European Women rocks]

I'm just voicing my opinion. If you think I'm wrong, explain why.

[Shend]

Was there a mass exodus at some point or have people moved on gradually?

A refreshing conversation. welcome

i think for the most part, the veterans of fst got tired of the same old site1 vs site2 and generally useless threads that now appear at fst. Sadly its own popularity has hurt fst and has relegated it to a shadow of its former self. This is pretty much the place where trading started, the torrent rankings started and the "anti-trading" started. now we have to deal w/ countless spam threads about outdated superficial topics such as, "which is better...."
While there have always been those types of threads, i think most of the vets got tired of them and just stopped posting. And instead of the void being filled w/ intellectual people who want to contribute it has been filled w/ "me 1st" users who's mentality has been how to get a quick buck.
tbh, its a problem in the whole torrent community not just fst. Sadly as it has become easier to create trackers, it has also attracted the type who are just out for themselves, those that ask themselves "how can i con my way into...." instead of saying "i should try and help with...." which is the real foundation of torrents and p2p, sharing is caring.