No hate, no politics (in effect since 30 September 2026)
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@joker
Something to ponder, only if you want to:Maybe consider making forum posts less easy for the entire world to see in various search engine search results?

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@Shepard69 what happens here that the rest of the world cannot see?
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@ianfontinell "I'm having trouble downloading 'X'" ..... "Thanks for the advice. I've managed to download it now." Is this not, potentially, evidence of wrongdoing?
Besides, your question could just as easily - and in my opinion far more appropriately - be asked the other way: "What happens here that the rest of the world needs to see?"
This forum is linked to a private, members only, website. I'm not aware of any physical private members club that publishes its members' conversations, meeting minutes, etc., for the world to see, nor any credible groups demanding this is unjust.
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@Kevin4fm all fair points, but many private communities require a membership to participate and are still visible without login, there are several private torrent communities that I found through google or other engines. Although gaytorrent isn't free it still isn't fully invite-only, anyone can buy their way in, it is possible that traffic from those engines are a part of the site's income.
All torrent pages and most of the forum sections have always been public, and everything that could be potentially bad for your privacy are already forbidden through the rules.
For anyone having trouble with a particular torrent, the forum is not even the most suitable place to come for help, the helpdesk is faster and more convenient.
So to be clear it's not that I disagree with you that it should not be public, I just don't think it is really necessary, that wouldn't exactly shield anyone from anything. Anyone can buy an account at any moment and have access to the whole forum, including the parts that are not public.
Being aware that your activity is subject to monitoring is all you need for you to follow the appropriate opsec practices, the forum being fully closed should not change what anyone feel comfortable to say in it.
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@ianfontinell Yeah, I get where you're coming from and I don't totally disagree. I think my "objection" is one of principle rather than real expectation.
One thing I do think would be reasonable though is a notification / reminder to members that their comments here ARE potentially visible to the public. I suspect that many here are not only unaware, but have a false impression that it is private.
Based on how many upload requests there are, I doubt a line in the "Rules", or "FAQs", would do the trick. Although... now I come to think of it, maybe that's EXACTLY where it should be.

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I think this is probably worthy of a new thread rather than a red-herring discussion here.
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@frostycab Probably, if I had more to say, but I don't so a new thread would be superfluous.
This wasn't intended to be a standalone "thing", just a short conversation which flowed from the original thread topic.
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@ianfontinell Hi Ian, this is totally a side question, but would love to see a guide to your personal opsec.
Also, do you do anything different when browsing the forums vs torrenting?
I'm not a total dunce when it comes to online privacy, but I also don't enter a clean room and tap into a tamper-proof operating systems from a USB stick. The fact that you toss out terms like opsec makes me think you know a tad more than me, and I am very open to learning how you (or others!) protect yourselves online.
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@rnd256 me? i don't have any personal opsec procedure and i am, in fact, very dumb!
what i meant initially refers to ways one can mitigate the risks of being sued by porn companies. the website itself makes a good job at protecting its users' anonymity, but we need to play our part and not announce to the world what we are downloading or uploading, because that makes it easier to profile you and associate your username to an inferred IP address.
Ideally you will have your torrent client bound to a good VPN so it is harder to get to you through swarm monitoring, even if you aren't very discreet about your downloads/uploads.
The IP you use to browse the site is irrelevant, you only have to worry about the IP that your client announces to other peers, and even that is important only depending on where you live. There are many countries where piracy is not taken as seriously or where it is just too expensive to take users to court.
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@Joker just to be sure.
This is based on the 2 guys (one of them a moderator) who were posting MAGA shitting everywhere for a couple of years?I think even that question may be pushing the limits of the new rule. My advice would be to just leave it alone.
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@frostycab oh, ok
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