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Whether you fancy obscure films, architectural software, XBOX games, iPhone apps, BluRays, HD documentaries, anime, 80’s cartoons, porn, textbooks, magic tricks or just about every audio recording ever made - there’s bound to be a private torrent tracker out there that carries it. With even a minimal amount of perseverance, just about anyone should be able to find a way into at least 95% of these private trackers - if you know how & where to look. Here’s a few tips devised to set you on the right path to tracker enlightenment.

A Prelude - Trackers, Signups & Levels

Truth be told, private trackers can be divided into two categories:

• The first group consists of sites that are almost continuously open to new members, or else they open public signups so often that it’d be nearly impossible to get in unless you blatantly didn’t try. These sites are either relatively unknown, or somewhat new, or want to maintain registration at full capacity at all times. Fortunately for aspiring members, the majority of all torrent trackers fit into this category. Unfortunately, however - due to supply & demand (of invites and membership), the "better" or l33t trackers will not have ‘open signups’ often (or even at all) which is also why Tracker Levels were conjured up due to the rarity of finding an invitation or becoming a member. Read on.

• The second group of private trackers really doesn’t want you there in the first place. It’s true - you’re not needed, wanted or even remotely special. But don’t let that stop you from trying to get in. Sites in this category rarely open the door publicly to new members (or never do), and also keep a tight reign on the invitations they award to qualified existing users. Accounts at trackers like these are more sought-after for reasons obvious - not necessarily due to the rarity, but because these trackers are indeed of a better pedigree. Many factors come into play in what stipulates a great tracker; including good pretimes, scene connections, torrent count, internal coders/release groups, a stunning design and a great community atmosphere.

By far, the easiest (and most common) method for registering at the majority of private trackers: Simply wait for them to open the signups. Most well-established private trackers will have a specific member limit, but prune off unused accounts from time to time paving the way for new users to join the site. It’s a fact that just about all private trackers will purge inactive members on a regular basis (i.e. housecleaning) but not all will necessarily throw up the signup.php page. In any event, there are a variety of methods available at your disposal to assist in finding trackers that are open for signups.

Tip#1 - Tracker Checker Websites

Ok, let’s start out with the basics. There are a handful of websites whose sole purpose is to provide an automated updating list of trackers open for registration. Not only do they display open torrent sites, but they’re a great tool for tracker discovery as well. Caveat: this can be hit-and-miss, since even if a tracker has a signup page available, it may either be closed to new signups or new users will require to enter a valid invite code on the page. Due to the aforementioned quirk, false positives are quite common.

• www.opentrackers.net — Displays an alphabetical listing of trackers, with a handy legend, country flags and additional stats. Trackers can even be added to a custom RSS feed.

• TrackerChecker.org — Allows users to login and add trackers to their favorites list, or even be notified by email when specific trackers become open.

• www.btracs.com — Also displays language & category (genre) of trackers in the list.

Tip#2 - Seek out New Trackers

Many new trackers will often want to promote their site, in order to generate exposure or get a sizable userbase quickly. Blogs such as yours truly (FileShareFreak) and FILENetworks both serve up the latest torrent trackers to the scene. As is often the case, this also might be your only opportunity to sign up to these new trackers without the need to scramble for an invitation down the road. But blogs need not be your only arsenal for finding the latest hot new torrent sites. Torrent Forums are a great insider’s resource for open trackers, as well as other trackers themselves (more on this later).

Another key tool is using Google operators. In a web browser tab, do a Google search for: torrent inurl:signup.php — Google will now search torrent sites that are currently displaying a signup page (and thus accepting new members). The search operator can be modified on both sides of the colon - including these customized examples:

• tracker inurl:signup.php
• torrent inurl:account-signup.php
• torrent inurl:register.php
• bit inurl:signup.php

Tip#3 - ‘Invite Sharing’ Queue Sites

Legions of users have boasted of moderate success when using some form of Invite Sharing service. Generally, it works like this: You add your email address to the waiting list for a chosen website or service - in this case, a private tracker invitation. With a little praying and a whole lot of patience, perhaps eventually someone will be kind enough to blindly send you an invitation.

Caveat: You never know who you’re inviting, thus your account is at high risk to exposure. If someone you invite just so happens to be a staff member at that tracker (a spy, OMG) who frowns upon invite trading (as most do) then it’s bye-bye for you. Use at your own risk - here’s one case where it’s better to receive than to give.

• http://getinvites.org — Uses a Karma system - yeah you’ll need to share your invites, too.

• www.inviteshare.com — Was once popular for a variety of private trackers, but focuses more on beta site invites (non-BitTorrent) nowadays.

• http://invites.mashable.com — Same as above; conduct searching for trackers at the bottom of the page.

Tip#4 - Tracker Software Utilities

Related to Tip#1, software apps can also assist in finding trackers open for registration. What’s great is that they can be customized or updated to include all the latest trackers.

• Torrents Open Registration Checker v1.26 — See our review here. Recommended!

• Tracker Checker 2 — A little older, TC2 hasn’t been upgraded in nearly two years.

Tip#5 - Get Invites From Tracker IRC Channels

A recent What.cd poll of more than 13,000 of its members suggests that only 30% have ever been on their IRC channel. This proves that even a sophisticated group of filesharers at a high-end tracker know nothing or little about IRC in general. Pity, really - since it’s such a great communication protocol (and a great opportunity for tracker recruitment/invites). Love it or hate it, IRC is deeply intertwined with just about every major private tracker, and for some of them it remains the only method of directly offering an invitation.

Take What.cd, for instance. You won’t find their invites floating around on any torrent forums. Nosiree. Either you’ll need to find a friend to invite you, or else go through the application process on their IRC invites channel. To join What.cd via #what.cd-invites, you must pass an interview. This interview will test your knowledge of their acceptable transcoding policies, BitTorrent, various audio formats and codecs, etc. It is highly recommended that you prepare for the interview by reading "Prepare for the Interview." You will have three opportunities to interview for an invite, so make each interview count! More info can be found at whatinterviewprep.webs.com.

To join the What.CD server and #what.cd-invites:

• • Connect to IRC Server: irc.what.cd Port: 6667 (6697 for SSL).
• • Type ‘/join #what.cd-invites‘ in your client (or click here for the hotlink).
• • Read the topic.

A growing trend among new private trackers is to offer member recruitment through torrent forums, other private trackers, and IRC. So why don’t they just open their registration publicly since it’s relatively easy to find an invite, anyways? Simple answer, really: They want quality members over quantity - not a database full of members who signed up but never return again. Many new startup trackers need not bother to offer public signups at all - good members know how & where to contact them. Private trackers’ IRC channels are a great starting point, especially if they’re offering recruitment through a special IRC #invite channel - such as these trackers listed below:

If you need an IRC client, a good one for Windows is mIRC (www.mirc.com); one for Mac/*Nix is Xchat (www.xchat.org).

Tip#6 - Get Invites From Other Private Trackers

Tracker Recruitment — Many of the larger, more popular trackers have community representatives who recruit new members for other trackers, and some trackers even allow members to post invite giveaways in their forums. So if you can prove yourself a valuable member at one tracker, you’ll quite easily be able to find an invitation to a variety of other ones - you just need to know where to look. This article explains which trackers offer invites to other ones.

All you need is What.cd - If you can pass the IRC test and get into What.cd and proceed to become a "Power User", you’ll have access to more than 100 other trackers (no guarantee you’ll be invited necessarily, but you’ll have a good chance).

Tip#7 - Torrent Forums: The Best Source For Tracker Invites

Hands down, the best method for finding invites to private trackers is through torrent discussion forums. The reality is, there are more invite giveaways than takers, and members often have a difficult time finding people to give them away to. Yeah, invites are that plentiful. We’re not gonna tell you that this is going to be a cakewalk - undoubtedly you’ll need to put in at least some modest effort before other members will trust you with their good invites. But it will happen.

The ‘Trackers with Open Signups‘ thread — Every torrent forum worth its weight in salt will have an area devoted to trackers that are open for public registration. Oftentimes, these will be new trackers to the scene, or trackers that don’t ordinarily offer signups publicly but have chosen to do so now. In any event, true gems can be found quite regularly - the trick is: check back frequently and use multiple sources, so get involved in more than one torrent forum. Also note that most torrent forums have tracker recruitment.

Torrent forums are a lot like private trackers themselves; many wish to remain a tight community, thus aren’t accepting new members via a public signup link. Below is a short assembly of ten popular semi-private torrent forums (in no particular order), and how to get in.

• TrackeReactor.com — Usually closed to new members through public signups, although a $25 donation will get you in the door. TR occasionally runs an ‘open signups’ promo which usually lasts just 24-48 hours. It should also be noted that members (including VIPs) are not able to invite their friends - TR’s invite system is currently closed.

• The Pirate Society.org — Also normally closed to direct registration, although there is new member recruitment going on through their IRC invites channel: irc.p2p-network.net/thepiratesociety-invites. TPS has been known to open their door sporadically.

• TorrentInvite.com — A few days a month they will be open to new members. Keep checking back! All existing TI members now have 5 invites to share with friends, if you can find a member.

• The Invite Club — TIC is not open directly, but has recruitment for aspiring new members through IRC: irc.p2p-network.net/TIC-invites.

• Invite Nation — You’ll need an invitation code to sign up at I-N, which can be requested through their IRC channel: irc.p2p-network.net/invitenation.

• DgDSN.com — It’s unknown if signups at DgDSN will reopen any time soon (site is currently invite only - you’ll need a valid invite code to sign up).

• Torrent-Invites.com — Continuously open to new members.

• PTI Access — Currently open to new members.

• NeonScene.net — Currently open to new members.

• Tracker-Invites.us — At last check, T-I is open for registration.

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• Date Thursday, 18 Jun 09 at 10:57 pm
• Under Tracker Invites
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