“Where did my invite come from?” You signed up for a private tracker using a valid email address, and got invited to a different one - out of the blue. Sounds cool? Think again. While the prospect of getting into a new tracker “no strings attached” may seem convenient, the scenario is actually quite scary: where did they get your email address from? Should you dismiss it as some some phishing scam designed to steal your name/password to use on your elite sites, or is your email address on a “for sale” list? Probably the latter.
HDahoy.org is just that; a new tracker startup that somehow unscrupulously obtained a list of email addresses in order to recruit new members during their ‘beta’ phase. Undoubtedly this “list” came from another private tracker, since it was received through a gmail account that I use only for trackers. Look at it this way: the only way you were invited to HDahoy is if you signed up at another one. The “other one” is the problem, since they ‘gave’ (ahem - sold) the database of email addresses to HDahoy. Just great. Marvelous.
Now we have two problems. One tracker is selling our email addresses, and another one is buying them. When JackSparrow - a co-sysop of HDahoy - was asked about where the invite came from, he replied:
…at the time we acquired the lists we were strongly discouraged from asking questions in a ‘take it or leave it’ fashion.”
…in simpler terms, “we’re not telling”. BlackBeard, an admin there, wrote this:
Whew! For a minute there, I thought I couldn’t trust them. Thanks for putting my mind to rest; a sense of security has now completely overwhelmed me.
HDahoy.org - Now Open to the Public
All things aside, HDahoy a new Gazelle tracker for all-things High Definition. There are currently 125 torrents and 2,300 members.
Signups have now been opened to the public - http://hdahoy.org/register.php “Registration is now open and will stay like this for two weeks, closing on the 6th of August”. Or, just keep checking your spam folder: Who knows? Someone might just send you an invitation.
PS: If you can figure out where your invite came from, don’t hesitate to comment. We’d love to hear about it, as would many tracker admins. Arrrgh!
Dogboy Says:
No thanks mate, I wouldn`t touch any tracker that uses spam to promote. it`s not right.
FILEnetworks Says:
We too were spammed by this tracker and so had several of our readers according to few emails we got. At first I though it was a legitimate tracker review request by a SysOP like we normally get but how very wrong i was.
Following is an IRC convo sent to us by a reader (names masked since they are not important)
(11:45:18) (XXX) any body know anything about hdahoy.org ?
(11:45:57) (XXX) No o:
(11:46:29) (XXX) random invites given out to people who never requested them
There was a guy on DS who got something like that. Week after he registered his ISP sent him a letter
(11:51:00) (XXX) staff on new site are jacksparrow, blackbeard, redbeard and borat
c312c>its using a registrar in hongkong, even more suspicious
So far we have not been able to determine where they got the list of emails from.
Zoomby Says:
Ok i was also one who received Invite. I ran A search And found following Tracker Registered with it.
A-L
Filemdom (FN)
Strikeys-Torrents
syncthebits.com
Scenelive
ScR
NeonScene (Invite Forum)
SwePiracy
vipmusic
animatoonic.org
PTN
If any one has Any similarity plz post here
asdf Says:
out of the ones zoomby listed i am on ScR and PTN and did not get an invite so i guess it is not them
anon Says:
A-L
Filemdom (FN)
Strikeys-Torrents
syncthebits.com
Scenelive
NeonScene (Invite Forum)
SwePiracy
vipmusic
down to this after i take off mine. keep narrowing it down
FILEnetworks Says:
The account we got the mail to was not registered in:
Strikeys-Torrents
vipmusic
Blox Says:
My email registered to syncthebits & Scenelive, as well as some of the others already ruled out, did not receive the invite email. If zoomby’s list is correct, that brings the list to this:
A-L
Filemdom (FN)
NeonScene (Invite Forum)
SwePiracy
Nothing new sadly Says:
I used a brand new unique email to sign up to Gettorrents.org *only* and now that account is completely filled with spam. Some of these admins are worse than anti-piracy groups IMO
Perkele Says:
Registered at NeonScene and SwePiracy, but no spaminvite…
leaves: A-L and Filemdom (FN), if all userclasses etc are concerned..
Indeed Weird Says:
I did get an invite but was not registered on any of the above listed by ZOOMBY
What does that mean?
Floopy Says:
Registered at A-L and haven’t gotten the invite.
Zoomby Says:
@INDEED : It Means I m wrong
And My List Is not
complete.
If Possible I will make through out checking of my box.
FlipYourWig Says:
Didn’t get one, glad too. That’s the total wrong way to promote a tracker.
Ab Says:
phew!!! some detective activity going on here , keep it up guys , ull find them
Oromis Says:
As much as I hate the advertising techniques, the site actually looks pretty nice
white Says:
got the invite and i’m registered only at neonscene out of the trackers/forums that Zoomby mentioned
Anon Says:
Whats the point in the detective work….
Even if you would pinpoint one, he could simply say the emails got stolen some time ago as it did happen to several torrent sites, just check the related storys…
“## Hackers Steal ‘User Database’ From Popular Private Tracker”
tofoko Says:
thanks for warning! people should think about which mails, pass and user names they use on these noob/upcoming trackers
Reese Says:
I have several test accts at STB and i have not received any random invites to any of my emails..
there are many sources for emails.. i personally pulled all the emails from http://getinvites.org/ a few months ago and sent the admin a email on ideas to fix this and he never replied or fixed it.
nextlife Says:
Wow, Can anyone stop these advertising freaks? Oh yes Anti-Spammers Built into the Mail SMTP and POP3 Servers ^,^
Indeed Weird Says:
@Anon, I’ll tell you why the detective work, at least for me:
If we’ll get to the bottom of this, who is the one who gave the emails, I’ll quit that site, and try tell as many people I know about it.
I don’t care what excuse that site has, they all promise to “protect our privacy”, right?
sharpie Says:
I’m not on any of these and I got a spam invite:
A-L
Filemdom (FN)
Strikeys-Torrents
syncthebits.com
Scenelive
NeonScene (Invite Forum)
SwePiracy
vipmusic
I’m curios though to know how many of you are donors to your trackers that got invites. The email address I use for donations to my trackers is the one I got spammed the invite to.
me Says:
Its the reason of I use trackername@mydomain.tld on registrations
Trackback :: Divorce Secrets for Men » Blog Archive » How To Find Email Address Information
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Just say no…. Says:
I don’t care how nice the new site looks or how sincere the admins’ intentions. This was wrong and I would never trust them after doing something like this. HDAhoy can set sail without this pirate on board.
Anon Says:
Member of the following trackers using the e-mail adress I got an invite at:
PtN
A-L
TL
BCG
RevTT
IPT
ScL
I believe that the main ones that are showing up are PtN and A-L. Both trackers have staff that are extremely trustworthy, which leads me to believe that there is no way that any of these trackers would give any information out like this. I am starting to believe that this is the result of a hack.
Indeed Weird Says:
I am at IPT and TL as well with that invite address, but I think I made a mistake earlier negating A-L
Is A-L= Acid Lounge?
If it is, then I am sorry, I mislead earlier, and it’s again on the questionable list
hm Says:
I am on:
PtN
TL
BCG
IPT
ScL
Not on A-L.
Cybermoth Says:
I’m on all the trackers HM is on with the exception of IPT and I did not receive an invite.
joens Says:
a bit shady to promote them after the spam, but whatever
Bertus Says:
I got an invite from Ahoy, and signed up to the following other trackers with that mail-account:
What
Waffles
RevTT
(Mininova)
So those are quite different then where most of you signed up…Maybe they got email adresses from multiple sources?
Bertus Says:
oh… I’m also a member of HD-torrents, I just didn’t receive an email confirmation from them I guess…
O_O Says:
That stylesheet looks surprisingly familiar. It seems e-mail addresses aren’t the only thing they got from other trackers.
Kecap Says:
From the list of Zoomby I used the subscribed email only in PTN.
Which gives?
//DC Says:
Not PtN I can assure you and it wouldn’t be A-L either. Only a handful of our members had this email arrive and I did ask them to confer between them as to find out which site they originated from but to no avail. This isn’t the first time its happened as I received a similar invite from nowhere early last year from a site called ’saladbowl.tl’ or similar, a MMA/E-Book tracker, doubt it will be the last.
//DC
jj Says:
I have invites to the following private torrent sites:
bitmetv.org
waffles.fm (when open)
torrent-damage.net
bit-hdtv.com
hd-bits.ro
Email me if interested: teflon701@gmail.com
Trackback :: How to Promote Your New Tracker: Just Buy eMail Addresses From … « Site Super Tracker
[…] Today found this great post, here is a quick excerpt : HDahoy.org is just that; a new tracker startup that somehow unscrupulously obtained a list of email addresses in order to recruit new members during their ‘beta’ phase. Undoubtedly this “list” came from another private tracker, … Read the rest of this great post Here […]
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HDAhoy: HD Tracker Open for Signups…
With HDbits unattainable for the majority of private tracker users, most people are turning to alternatives such as HD-Torrents and Bit-HDTV. Another popular alternative is HDahoy, which has opened it’s doors for new members. Since launching 8 mo…
Trackback :: P2PTalk » HDAhoy: HD Tracker Open for Signups
[…] HDahoy’s launch last year was clouded in controversy, with the tracker staff buying a list of email addresses from an undisclosed source, but the tracker has become extremely popular since. […]
FU freshon Says:
you can’t narrow it down to one tracker many of them are selling email lists