If you didn’t already know, 3 months ago ImageShack launched a new “seedbox” service (and we use the term ’seedbox’ very loosely - Leechbox would be a more apt description). Our initial thoughts were, “Wow, this may be a great stepping stone to get new users into the world of seedboxes”. After some trial runs and a closer inspection, we regrettably conclude that this service will: 1. Make current seedbox users laugh hysterically at the inferiority (assuming you’ve gotten over the fact that your private tracker ratios are now worsened); and, 2. Make first-time seedbox users erroneously think that all seedboxes operate in this manner, causing them to head for the hills at the thought of obtaining a real seedbox.
So… what is RIGHT with it?
The only positive conclusion to how this service could be applied would be to public tracker BitTorrent users who are hopelessly throttled / traffic shaped by their ISP - and nothing else works (as a free option). In most cases, running a BT client on your home computer will still be faster.
What is WRONG with it?
Don’t use it on a private tracker. Under normal circumstances, you won’t be able to seed a torrent to 1:1, not ever. The upload rate cannot be changed, so once a torrent finishes downloading, that’s all folks - and it cannot be restarted. Private tracker members everywhere are complaining that their ratios have been hurt by using this service - and they’re right.
Worse yet, you may just get tracker-banned for using a bad BitTorrent client. Many people have complained about being banned from trackers for using a “banned client”. Don’t take that chance with any private tracker you really care about!
Because the torrents automatically stop, ImageShack turns everyone into a hit-and-runner, regardless of public or private torrent. You may find yourself on the receiving end of a nasty warning from your private tracker - or in a worst-case scenario, get yourself banned from the site. The only possible workaround to this would be to de-select at least one file in the not-yet finished torrent.
It even hurts public trackers. Again, we take you back to the fact that ImageShack kills the torrent once it finishes downloading, regardless of how much you’ve put back into the upload. At least some public tracker users will keep torrents running in their home client after it’s finished downloading, to help other users. Expect public torrents from sites such as mininova to get even slower, if you haven’t already noticed. Great; all mininova needs is even more users complaining about the speeds of those aXXo torrents.
It doesn’t always work, and directs you to a “premium” pay link “for instant priority”. This smacks of the same RapidShare ploy to separate you from your dollar.
ImageShack enforces any DMCA violations, and that means anything deemed as copyright infringement. There goes just about every torrent, then! Whee!
- • Files that are illegal and/or are in violation of any United States laws.
- • Files that infringe on the copyrights of any entity excluding the user.
ImageShack “Premium” service is outlandishly expensive, for what you get. 100 GB disk space and 200 GB monthly bandwidth for $75 USD a month? There are many seedbox services (even with TorrentFlux) that offer unlimited access for much less than this.
Want to read more? See this lengthy thread on Whirlpool Forums.
Our Tests
It seems like ImageShack may have figured out a rudimentary way to block “illegal” torrents (either that, or it was just lucky). We downloaded two different torrents from mininova.org - the first one was from the Movies section:
Forgetting.Sarah.Marshall.R5.READNFO.XVID-JDT1 [mininova].torrent — No matter how many times we tried to load this one, it kept saying “Please try your download later”. So we moved on to one of mininova’s “featured” torrents (the ‘legal’ variety):
Xzibit - Paparazzi Madman the Greatest Refix 2008 BLINGBLUNG [mininova].torrent — And it started right away! Note below that we achieved a miniscule 1.9% sharing ratio on it (i.e. 1 : 0.019 ).
The bottom line: This ImageShack seedbox
leechbox service is a part of a larger ploy to generate revenue out of hapless users, without a care in the world to the health of P2P or BitTorrent, or you and your tracker. Evidently a small percentage of users will likely end up being swayed into subscribing to the premium version - which is what they’re counting on. But any BitTorrent user who possesses even one iota of common sense will avoid this misery.
Blaenk Denum Says:
Figured something seemed too good to be true about the service, glad I never tried it. Thanks for the information man.
james Says:
To good to be true? Are you kidding? 200 gigs for $75 isn’t too good to be true…it’s a scam.
rolo Says:
I am just trying it right now, and it is STILL seeding even thought the torrent is completet, it seems they have changed it to at least seed back 1:1 or maybe even seed indefinitly till the torrent is stopped, we will see once it reaches 1:1 ratio
rolo Says:
And still seeding
Connection Status Active
Download Percentage 100%
Estimated Completion Download Succeeded
Download Rate 0.0 kB/s
Upload Rate 193.9 kB/s
Seeds 0 (116)
Peers 7 (22)
Sharing Ratio 106.3%
rolo Says:
Well, stopped at 150% still good enugh for use on puplic trackers now i guess :=)
Connection Status Disconnected
Download Percentage 100%
Estimated Completion Download Succeeded
Download Rate 0.0 kB/s
Upload Rate 0.0 kB/s
Seeds 0 (119)
Peers 6 (20)
Sharing Ratio 150.2%
Blaenk Denum Says:
James, I was under the impression that it was free (And that upgrade packages were available). Of course what you said is a fucking scam.
Santiago Says:
ROLO is right. It seeds until getting the 150%. I’m using it with TL and no problem at all. I had a 1.06 ratio and now above 1.20.
fakeuser Says:
This is supposed to be a leechbox… It’s marketed as leechbox. Why do you say it’s a scam because you or someone else claimed it’s a seedbox?
What part of boycott is unclear? Says:
Please honor the boycott of Imageshack. These are the very same pricks who have blacklisted hundreds (thousands?) of warez and torrent sites so pics posted won’t display. Imageshack is extremely anti-filesharing and no friend of anyone who downloads.
Doofoos Says:
Oh Puuhleeeze, blocking wares and torrent sites is bad, so that your stealing enjoyment is compromised. You want ImageShack to give you things for free without any regard for the cost of the service that _they_ pay, so that you can steal movies and shows? Why don’t you stick with PC clients and seed out of your own bandwidth, that _you_ pay for.
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bill Says:
I found it to be handy actually for certain sites. It can really get your ratio up. I wouldn’t suggest using it for a torrent you especially want because getting your file to dl is such a hassle or impossible…but it really helps when you don’t have a lot of ul bandwidth…I got over 100kBps and that’s huge for me. It’s a poor man’s seed box with a lot of limits but still handy to use if you don’t expect too much…
koxa Says:
im using it and by the way, im getting good upload speeds and im seeding my torrents very well on private trackers… in with the free service and its a very good ratio booster for me, cause my upload speed is lower than the imageshack seedbox upload speeds
koxa Says:
ops, forgot to say, the file was uploading while downloading, and it keeps uploading now with the download completed
danny Says:
I get pretty bad upload speeds (50 KB/s is the max), but download speeds are great (so calling it a leechbox seems accurate). It will continue uploading after the DL is complete, but it sometimes stops. I just have to re-start it from time to time (although this can be a pain as they always want you to upgrade). 2 active torrents at a time is a little irritating, and the slow upload speed is also quite frustrating, but for something that’s free it’s not that bad.
nirmal Says:
it works good for me…………(only 4 improving ratio)
H&R happens…..but it can seed upto 150%
even if it stops after downloading 100% just click start…it will keep seeding @50KBps.
and it seeds upto 150%.
i does it for the following trackers to improve my ratio.
Torrent-Damage
Bitsoup
Bitnation
Zamunda
Revolutiontt
TorrentLeech
caristavi Says:
Its look now Imageshack has been blocked by http://www.d-addicts.com tracker…
it’s always turn to 0% and will be come to a Dead Torrent…
is there anyone has the same problem with me when using d-addicts tracker??
5428 Says:
The finished torrent files are not safe in this service. I had mor than 10G files were lost in 3 weeks without any fault in my side.
tom Says:
If you are looking for an entirely web based bittorrent client also try http://www.btaccel.com. Nothing fancy, just simple functionality that works.
met Says:
http://www.furk.net is also good, its a bt downlooad box. I don’t know what if anything they will upload though. Anyone know uploads on http://www.furk.net
?
sober Says:
have they stopped free service?
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