I’m making an ongoing series of posts where we discuss something as a community, then I add it to the mega-thread for future reference. This has been an reoccurring question so figured I’d cover it next.
Where do you guys go for news and updates regarding open signups?
The two places I’m aware of:
Opentrackers.org - Updates have seemed a little lacking lately with many open signups being posted with a long delay or not at all.
OpenSignup Telegram Channel - Much more up to date but with the downside that sometime it gets flooded with junk/ads/spam.
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Bad news: The OpenSignup Telegram channel hasn’t been updated since October 2023
What’s the benefit of private trackers?
Do they really have more content and better speeds?
I’ve seen claims of better privacy but just over the last month iirc there were a few in trouble.
Better content by a mile if you’re in some of the good ones. Speeds are always good on private trackers but public trackers can have good speeds on popular things too.
Some stats (I edited the name into each one so it would be easier to differentiate):
- RED (1st largest music)
- OPS (2nd largest music)
- BTN (Television)
- PTP (Movies)
- HDB (All HD content)
- GGn (Video games)
Better privacy is objectively true but it’s only security by obscurity, so it’s ~99.9% bulletproof. You can generally torrent without a VPN on private trackers, though some of the larger “semi-private” mega trackers like IPT/TL/etc may still have a tiny chance of getting ISP letters. For a copyright holder to serve your ISP a letter they need to be in your swarm with you. Private trackers are difficult to get access to and have much smaller swarms than public trackers, so copyright holders usually don’t bother. The easier a community is to get access to, and the more users that are hanging around in swarms, the more appetizing it might be for them.
Edit: Retention is also really good on private trackers. Most people seed everything forever on private trackers, so you don’t have to worry about content being “fresh” for it to be available and seeded.
