FileShareFreak THE source for BitTorrent & P2P Tips, Tricks and Info.

For years torrenters have been using private tracker RSS feeds to filter out and download the latest torrents coming onto the site. While RSS may offer a distinct advantage over conventional ‘browse & download’ when it concerns jumping into a swarm early, it’s no secret that IRC autodl scripts easily beat out their RSS cousin by as much as 15 minutes (an eternity on What.CD or BMTV). Most trackers that announce new releases (torrents) in an IRC channel will offer a specific customized IRC script to accomplish this (IRSSI), but that’s not the topic for this tutorial. Instead, we’ve discovered a brand new plugin for ChatZilla that supports several different private tracker #announce channels for the purpose of downloading & filtering .torrents, and then it automatically sends these torrent files to a local or remote BitTorrent client.

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Want to find out which private trackers have the best pretimes? Looking for a particular scene release to see if it’s been pre’d? This, and a whole lot more can be found on P2P.IN - a new Pre Database IRC network; featuring channels such as #pre (for pre announces), #tracers (for torrent races), #search and others. P2P.IN’s IRC pre’s contain some unique addons which aren’t found in any other IRC networks (which we’ll explain) - plus, a web-based version is slated to be released soon which is set to even include tracer stats "live" on the ‘net. Definitely worth bookmarking!

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While IRC Fserves are becoming less popular, XDCC servers continue to thrive. Even if you possess not a single iota of knowledge about IRC, just about anyone can harness the power of XDCC downloading thanks to xWeasel. xWeasel is a standalone IRC XDCC utility that comes with integrated search & download capabilities through indexed XDCC Bots, networks and channels. Behind the scenes, xWeasel functions as an IRC client but with the sole purpose of being streamlined with special features for XDCC downloading. IRC fanatics, we think you’re gonna like this!

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One thing about IRC: You never know what you’re going to discover. Most private torrenters have already heard about IRC tracer channels (specifically #trace & #tracers), which log and keep track of torrent races among popular trackers competing for the best pretimes. Well now there’s a new IRC network that covers releases from prominent ‘release blogs’ - what could be more original! #brace (Blog Race) is a new project that tracks several release blogs and how fast they post about scene releases. It uses the same engine as #trace, which tracks torrent sites.

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For the past 5 years irc.p2p-network.net has been dominating the IRC P2P scene, and no one has taken the step to try and compete… until now. Introducing irc.p2p-net.eu - the latest P2P IRC network. Originally P2P-NET.eu was irc.TehConnection.eu, and it was for use by TehConnection members only. The Network/Systems administrator of P2P-NET.eu - SpX21 - began to realize the need for a new IRC network that caters to the ever-expanding list of torrent sites that are sprawled out across different networks.

There’s some big names behind p2p-net.eu, including veteran BT staff:

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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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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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Every once in a while a P2P utility comes along that really captures our attention, and so deservedly earns an honorable spot all by itself at FileShareFreak. Such is the case with Avarice. Avarice is a multi-server IRC client designed to simplify XDCC file transfers - so simplified that users need not even know what IRC is in order to use it. Moreover, Avarice should be rightfully classified as a P2P program unto itself.

Unlike other IRC “scripts”, Avarice is a stand-alone IRC client that mimics the behavior of a P2P program. And since IRC is a goldmine for copyrighted content that exists at the apex of the piracy pyramid, it is an essential tool used in facilitating XDCC IRC searching.

The best feature about Avarice is in the search results. When treated as a regular P2P program, users need not worry about the quality of the files in the results - everything that should be, will be! Unlike public BitTorrent sites with all the publicly-submitted junk .torrents and Limewire-style P2P programs with the bogus files and anti-P2P corruption - XDCC Bots don’t suffer the same maladies. They are a highly-organized group of file servers from the upper echelon of piracy, itself. Avarice cuts out the middlemen and brings you right to the heart of “the scene” for newbies and experts alike.

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« Part 5 of a 7-part series on Advanced Searching for Copyrighted Content »

Part 5. Searching IRC / IRC Tools.

IRC is about as close as you can get to the top of the piracy pyramid without actually being involved in “the scene”. Most (but not all of) pirated releases found at the P2P level descended from IRC in some form or another, usually directly. It is the major cog between release groups and what is found publicly through BitTorrent websites, the newsgroups, DDL sites and any other method of P2P file sharing. So the significance of IRC to the “piracy scene” should not be overlooked or undervalued. The vastness of illegal content is staggering; both in sheer numbers, and in the diversity of available content often found nowhere else.

About This Tip: IRC has a high learning curve, and these tips & tricks are not aimed towards those who are inexperienced in IRC. It is assumed you are already affluent in IRC, with a good grasp of its functions and features that include joining networks, servers, channels, sending/receiving files and using commands in the IRC window. If you are new to Internet Relay Chat, we recommend that you check out www.irchelp.org and learn some of the basics before proceeding. However; some of these programs (scripts) take all the hard work out of IRC and many contain great GUIs for easy navigation and file transferring. Be our guest to jump right in - our setups are simple to follow.

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From Sharky: Filesharefreak.com siteop

Not only do sites like TPB, Mininova, Isohunt et al. have the MPAA, RIAA and government agencies breathing down their necks, they’re trying to stay afloat as well. Imagine these ironic headlines:

“Mininova shuts (itself) down: Operating costs too high. MPAA rejoices!”

“ThePirateBay closes: can’t afford the burden of tracking servers any longer.”

OK, maybe this is a little extreme, but it could happen, and does. This is exactly what happened to IRCKlipper.

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