At long last, Phoenix Labs, the company behind the popular IP blocking software for Windows, has come out with a major revamped version for Mac OS X users. This is the first full (non-beta) release in nearly two years - long overdue for OS X users who value their privacy just as seriously as their WinXP and Linux counterparts. PeerGuardian integrates support for multiple lists, list editing, automatic updates, and blocking all of IPv4, (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc.), making it the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on the Internet.

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Here’s a massive list of IRC channels from most of the popular private BitTorrent sites. Similar posts have made their rounds throughout the BitTorrent scene — we’ve cleaned it up by updating the links and by adding new IRC channels; and we’ve also tested them to make sure they work. To make it even more handy, we’ve made the links "clickable" so you can launch IRC right from these links, without having to do all that cut/paste nonsense.

See anything not listed? Throw in a comment, and I’ll add it to the list.

Common IRC commands are listed at the bottom.

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This is a non-exhaustive list of terminology commonly used throughout the private BitTorrent community. Many obvious ones (such as "torrent") have been purposely omitted. I threw this together rather quickly; if you know of any others, please drop us a comment, and I’ll add ‘em to the list.

Adopt (a torrent):

Some sites have an ‘adoption system’ for torrents. This ensures that a torrent will always have at least one seed, and adopters are often rewarded with credit.

Axx:

Short for ‘account’ or ‘accounts’ - as in private accounts. Eg.: If you have an account at TorrentLeech and BitMeTV; then these are your axx.

Bad Invite:

You’ve given an ‘invite’ to someone who has done harm to the site, usually H&R related. In extreme cases, your account may also be deleted as some sites have zero-tolerance on this. Other sites have no policy on this whatsoever, and others may have a limitation on how many bad invites you are allowed to give (as is the case with FinBytes - which will allow 2 bad invites before disabling your account as well).

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TorrentInvite
TrackeReactor
TTIF.net
Invites-Paradise
InviteNation
T-Funkizone
SharingTheNet
P2P Talk
TorrentForums
TrackerInvites
Invites Central
Other Notables

This is an update to a previous post about public sites that offer torrent invites and swapping. Below you’ll find a list of sites & forums that are completely dedicated to torrent ‘invite’ swapping, private sites that are open to new signups, and free account ‘giveaways’. It should be assumed that these sites require registration and some form of user participation. Having said that, many will grant VIP / Donor status for members who donate to the site.

We highly recommend that you’re properly prepared before asking for invites or "giveaways". In short, this would include being an active member in the forums, and having "proofs" done beforehand. Proofs consist of two things: A current speedtest of your Internet speed (3 is best to have on hand), plus a ratio proof screenshot (or more than one) of a current private tracker that you have an account to. Both of these criteria are used by a ‘donator’ to decide who is deserving of the invite.

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There are literally thousands of private BitTorrent websites. Most of them fall into the "general" category and contain a hodgepodge of mixed content. Others cater specifically to a particular genre of torrent:

And others are completely specific. Here’s a list of private trackers that don’t fall into any of the above groups; many could be even considered fanatical, eclectic or downright strange.

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Some private BitTorrent sites are so secretive that members need to click hidden links to login; others run covertly behind a false ‘frontpage’ under the pretense of offering a legitimate service. Many of these trackers would be considered ‘closed communities’ and don’t have an active ‘invite system’, so it’s a futile effort for most torrenters to gain access. This is anything but an exhaustive list - there’s bound to be others and likely more that very few people even know about.

Out of admiration and respect for these private trackers, we’ve omitted any URLs that can lead to unwanted exposure. Due to their secretive nature, data, screenshots & statistics are provided "as-is" and may not be current.

ScL

— Members: ~1,600.# of Torrents: ~1,500.About: Also known as "The Flower" or "The Clover" to its users. ScL offers site promos fairly often (2X-upload stats and freeleech) and has some amazing packs for offer (which are always freeleech). D/L speeds aren’t quite as fast as some of the bigger trackers (ScT, TL etc.) due to the small usercount. Make use of those 2X-up specials because jumping up in classes at ScL is an arduous task (see ‘Classes’).

Browse	Stats / Cats	Classes	Current

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Just about any experienced BitTorrent user will tell you that public trackers are not a recommended resource for software (mininova, isohunt etc.). And because they’re public, (and allow access to anyone) they’re fair game for anyone wishing to create and upload any torrent containing just about anything. This carte blanche approach opens the door to purposefully harmful torrents & bad software releases. We’re seeing more and more of this all the time - torrents containing malware, viruses and trojans are quite commonplace and can be found on all public trackers. What’s worse is that public torrents are essentially unmoderated, and bad torrents are not only allowed to be uploaded and shared, but are allowed to proliferate and remain in the community.

Private BitTorrent sites alleviate (and even eliminate) the problems associated with bad torrents, and remain a trusted source amongst the ’software scene’:

1. Piracy Pyramid. — Private sites are closer to the top of the piracy pyramid, and many have direct access to the ’scene’ through FXP boards, topsites & IRC pre-channels that announce the release as it happens. Proper ’scene releases’ will not contain malicious files, so members can expect high quality torrents as a result.

2. Moderation. — Private sites not only restrict who is able to upload, but they also actively check and moderate the releases on their trackers. Most will boast that 99% of new torrents are completely ‘good’, and if any are found to be bad releases, they’re promptly deleted from the site. Above all else, good reputation is paramount to survival in the private torrent circuit.

Most private trackers have a category specifically designated to software releases; however here’s a few that specialize in appz:

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It goes without saying, most private trackers carry an impressive selection of games, but some BitTorrent sites are absolute game specialists. Whether it’s PC, Mac, console or emulator games you seek, there’s probably a private BitTorrent site for it. Here are just some of the trackers available out there, and what they have to offer:

GAMES / CONSOLE TRACKERS

http://www.underground-gamer.com

— OPEN? - NO.Members: 24,000.Ratio: varies.# of Torrents: +6,000.Features: UG is hands-down the best tracker for retro games. Genres include every imaginable emulator and ROM (Atari, Sega, NES…even cell phone games!). UG has a very sophisticated class system for its members - see ‘classes’ below.

Browse	Stats	Categories	Classes

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Recently-launched TrackerChecker.org is a new web service for finding private BitTorrent sites that are open to new signups. TrackerChecker currently boasts 185 private trackers on its list, with more being added all the time.

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For the second time in four months, Underground-Gamer.com has fallen to hackers. It’s been almost four days since the popular gaming site had been hacked, and there’s still no sign of life at the site. No motives have yet to be established, and the torrent tracker immediately went offline, leaving everyone stranded.

The hackers even infiltrated and commandeered their IRC channel, according to members who were chatting at the time. They’ve since restored the channel, and the new IRC message reads, “Site was hacked and is being restored - be patient-like. Asking “what happen to site? = “plz kick me!”. Yes, we have backups! There are no services, don’t ask, and if you want an invite, you’re SOL”. Killergorilla, a member at UG who was on IRC at the time of the hack, stated: “It’s been hacked. I was on the IRC server earlier and the hackers were on there. Interesting chaps.”

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You may find yourself in a situation where you’re unable to download *.torrent files onto the PC that you’re using. Perhaps you’re sitting in an Internet Café, public Library or other place that blocks the actual downloading (or opening) of torrent files to the computer. I know that some Universities do this, as do many non-commercial ISPs & corporate firewalls (proxies) at the workplace.

Many firewalls and security measures will block P2P traffic, filesharing programs (and any new installations of such), or disallow new ports from being added to the “allow” list. These are somewhat difficult to override, depending on the situation (not to mention risky to attempt at work). But if you are able to install, use and launch a BitTorrent client, but not download *.torrent files for it, then this tip may work well. (You may still be able to run µTorrent through a USB stick in situations where new software installations/P2P programs are not allowed).

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If you’re still using Limewire to download music - the question is: WHY? BitTorrent was absolutely made for music. Releases are arranged by album - not by song title - and are always of superior bitrates and sound quality to those of their P2P counterparts. P2P networks such as Limewire’s Gnutella are easy targets of flooding and spoofing by anti-piracy groups, resulting in crippled search results and / or ‘fake’ files once downloaded. Not to mention those ‘botched home-job’ mp3 rips that quickly spread throughout users’ shared folders.

Public BitTorrent is not exempt from its share of problems, either. Anyone can arbitrarily upload a torrent that consists of badly done mp3’s, although most issues usually pertain to inferior sound quality due to ‘low bitrates’ (i.e. 128 kbit/s) commonly found in amateurish CD-rips. Enter the private BitTorrent music tracker — the solution to ‘all things wrong with music and filesharing’! Fellow Audiophiles - here are some of the advantages of using a music-dedicated private tracker:

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This is a great tip to increase your ratio on private trackers. It allows you to seed a torrent through your private BitTorrent account that’s already been downloaded from a public site (or another private one). Thus, only the upload stats will be counted towards your ratio, without incurring any downloading against it.

I’ve seen this tutorial posted elsewhere, but I’ve cleaned it up and redone it as a complete, easy-to-follow walkthrough. Credits go out to all who’ve done it before.

NOTE: This hack is not considered a dirty trick, and it likely won’t lead to you being warned or banned by your private site.

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Most people assume that RSS feeds are the best method to stay up-to-date with the latest torrents on a private tracker. This is a fallacy. With RSS, your computer/browser must request an update from the feed - typically this is set to every 15 minutes (with the shortest pull-time being 5 minutes). And that’s even if the site supports RSS - not all do.

Now, you can try running through all of the site’s torrent categories to try to keep up with the latest content, or sit in one category and constantly hit the browser’s ‘Refresh’ button like an idiot. Both of these methods work to beat out the RSS feed.

Or, you can join the private tracker’s IRC (pre) channel and watch the latest torrents being announced on-the-fly, and simply click the links as they appear. Most modern private sites use an IRC “pre-chan” to announce the torrents before (as) they get published on the site. This is beneficial in two ways:

— You’ll get instant access to the most recent torrents, typically in advance of most other site members who aren’t in the IRC channel. Unless, of course, they’re forever reloading the pages…

— This is also a great tactic for getting into the uploading swarm as early as possible. If you get in a torrent very early, everyone else jumping on it after you will use your completed parts, thus your upload rate will be higher for longer.

IRC is also a great way to gain credits or other site ‘currency’ just for being in the channel.

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Television torrents are unquestionably the most popular genre of torrent — just take a look at the Top Ten Most Downloaded Torrents listed by mininova.org; 9 of them are TV episodes. TV torrents bring in big traffic, and remain the largest staple of new material for public BitTorrent trackers.

This notoriety has not gone unrecognized by private BitTorrent websites - all ‘general’ sites offer a robust selection of fresh TV torrents to round out their content. Private trackers are advantageous for TV releases for a variety of reasons:

— UNPARALLELED SPEED:With a private tracker, you’ll be able to download an episode of ‘Lost’ or ‘Heroes’ in less time than it takes to watch it.

— PRE-TIMES:Often a torrent is available in a matter of minutes after the original airing. Many sites offer a daily TV timetable, and members can expect these torrents to arrive on the site moments after the show ends.

— SELECTION:Private sites offer a superior selection to public trackers. Content is well-organized, and torrenters often have greater choices in formats (HDTV, x264, XviD). Full seasons are commonplace.

— NO DUPLICATE TORRENTS:When searching for specific popular TV episode on a public BT site, for example: “Heroes Season 1 Episode 19 (S01E19)”, unfortunately there’s a huge selection of results to choose from, and that makes it near impossible to pin down a good release. Private sites solve this problem quite handily - they offer just one torrent for each episode. This way you’ll be assured to get the best quality torrent each and every time, with little guesswork.

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