Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cassimira]

Thought ya'll might like to know: If you've been having problems accessing your favorite bittorrent site recently, its because they've sold out.

That's right, after years of struggling against corporate interests and just a few weeks after posting prominent banner ads urging users to "fight the good fight" against the corporate-interest promoting ACTA agreement, piratebay has sold out to.... a GAME COMPANY. For 8 million. Boo.

Article at: [url] http://www.zeropaid.com/news/86528/pirate-bay-sold-for-7-8-million-going-legit/ [/url]

[hanguker]

meh. On to the next site...

[Hootsmon]

Bugger! That explains why I can't get on it today...

What would you(s) recommend as a replacement?

[cassimira]

yeah, on to the next site, sure enough. But in a way piratebay has kind of become a symbol just simply by staying afloat for so long....

also, there was a large amount of anti-corporate, open source idealism expressed by the site administrators.... the site was famous in certain circles not only for its resilience, but also for the values they, with a considerable amount of wit and humor, expressed. This is why its such a disappointment and a shocker.... it wasn't just some run-of-the-mill site. Rather it purported to stand for something..... that old wild west style "freedom" that those of us who've been internetting since the beginning hold so dear.... and which is rapidly disappearing.

It'd be one thing if the site owners had decided that the legal issues it faced were insurmountable and the site had to be closed. Instead its as if adbusters magazine sold itself to Rupert Murdoch.... its not just a sale.... its a sell out... and a complete trashing and betrayal of the values that they espoused. Which is why its such a major, major, bummer to see it become just another itunes-type, corporate-controlled store.

As to other sites... demonoid is nice, but I think registration is closed.... plus they require that you maintain a good upload ratio, which can be a bit difficult if you mostly download popular files. Nothing can really replace the large community or versitility of piratebay as of yet.... but BTtracker and 1337x.org are up-and-comer websites (1337x is almost entirely ad-free!) that might make good temporary replacements.

[carleverson]

piratebay was a good and reliable site, but they were getting more and more porn uploads, something I don't care for.

What's the website address for BTtracker?

[Gaber]

This news is about 9 month old. It's from around the time one of the founders was thrown in jail. So far, I haven't noticed a difference

[jacksthirty]

isohunt are still up and running. I know they hit a bad patch several months ago, but they seem to have gotten their act together.

[cassimira]

Sorry, its actually BTjunkie. The link: [url]btjunkie.org[/url]

Hmmm..... thanks for the input.... i rechecked the date on the story, and realized that my brain still thinks that 2009 means "now." whoops! So yup, old news. Sorry folks if I waxed a little lyrical.... I have a bit of an emotional connection to the site.

Yeah, no changes yet.... except the site seems to be down a LOT more frequently than it was previously. Also, in the article I read, the new owners had publicy stated that they were going to change the business model so that users pay for some files.... which yes, we have not seen implemented yet, but I'm wondering why this "gem" of an idea just seems to have dropped into the void..... anybody seen any further news or have anymore info on this?

[Gaber]

That sale had so little effect on the running of the site that I wonder if it may have been a PR move to deflect the media crapstorm they were going through at the time. Or maybe some kind of dummy company to protect the founders.