2009, the start of the decline for private trackers?

[anon]

Every now and then (and particularly, whenever I have to close review threads) I think about this. It seems that from 2009 onwards, we have had a ton of prominent trackers close, with few springing up to take their place. It started with TTi and those Nordic sites, which chose to either shut down or restrict operations when Sweden became a less friendly place for filesharing, and as the end of that year approached, we saw ScT, UK-T and FTWR disappear, almost within the same month.

Ever since, at least a couple of major players have fallen every year, the latest examples being GFT, SCC, What.cd and BCG. Of course, it's not like no tracker had ever shut down before (OiNK, EliteTorrents, SuprNova), but it happened much less often, and with alternatives always appearing to fill the void. Now it's the opposite.

Let's see if you remember these names:

• ScT / SceneTorrents
• SCC / SceneAccess
• UK-T
• FTWR / Follow The White Rabbit
• What.cd
• GFT / GeForces Tracker
• FTN / FeedTheNet
• TorrentVault
• TorrentShack
• ScL / SceneLife
• BCG / Blackcats Games
• BitGamer, Underground-Gamer
• FreshOn.TV (a.k.a. TV.TORRENTS.RO)
• TvTorrents.com
• Cheggit
• PureTNA
• Filepost, FileMP3, Fileporn
• SuperTorrents, STMusic
• SoftMP3
• SweDVDR
• SceneSound, CareStreet
• TranceRoute
• TorrentIt
• PackMeIn
• elektROnik
• SyncTheBits
• Pimp my Mobile

Am I imagining things, or did trackers really close faster than they can be replaced? In the latter case, why?

[yoco]

The only one I still miss is TvTorrents.com!

[Spidtest]

Bitgamer is still up isnt it?

I really miss SCC though, they were great, rest of them I didnt get to try...

[Jackson312]

Thats not the same BG like it was back then and run by other people afaik. Also never reached the level the original had. But a new version of underground gamer is online since a while run by the old team guys Re***Wi**.in

Dont know why but I never really liked scc so much except their packs, other stuff could also grabbed everywhere else. also they weren´t as fast as some years ago. miss torrentshack :(
gft was also nice some years ago but when the foreign cat. wasnt working or full bds stopped to show up there and every few weeks mails with please donate the interest was declining. nothing against you loopy oder kane, i know that running a tracker costs money...

I think the decline of trackers also has something to do with people outgrowing torrents. a lot of people startet with them 10+ years ago when they were yound and had a lot of time. i saw so many people came and go over the last 10 years... A lot left because of no time anymore, job, family.. Netflix is also a reason and other legal options.

[Master Razor]

And to think I had them all, with dupplicates, and then some...
I miss them all.

[slikrapid]

some possible explanations:
- periods of increased law enforcement activity
- change of generations of p2p users
- saturation over the years
- lack of new ideas and ways to reinvent filesharing
- other available options, like streaming

seems like most of these trackers have been successfully replaced by new ones (p2p music trackers) or older ones that already had a sizable community (general trackers, p2p music trackers)

the exception may be dedicated scene music trackers which were active during the last 5-10 years but afaik never recovered since

[illusive]

The bittorrent world started some years before this time so most these trackers were at their peak and with tightness of law enforcement and lack of secure care of the owners, the result was as we saw. It's simple as that. Either that or simply no more resources to waste !

However, I really liked bitgamer, freshon and TVT. I simply consider these the top closed trackers ever. Retrowith.in sounds promising but as I hear it's not like the old Underground-Gamer.

[alpacino]

I have been a member in almost all of them, but miss only a few. Apart from several reasons mentioned here I think another important factor for the decline was the cost of trackers and the difficulty associated with getting funds from their userbase. A lot of users are willing to contribute to their trackers but after the paypal breakdown on donations, things became so much harder for the tracker owners, as not everyone is into this crypto currency stuff and it's not easy converting dollars to crypto. A good alternative I've seen some sites doing to get some funds is the web crypto mining, which is very easy for any user to do and help, by allotting some PC power and energy to be converted to crypto coins. But the correct is to offer the user if they want to participate or not, they have to be transparent about it.

[anon]

All good explanations. In particular, I'd forgotten PayPal became much harsher on "pirate" sites at some point.

[Spidtest]

But the rise of BTC should have been an answer to the paypal.

[anon]

Cryptocurrencies are still too mind-boggling to understand, acquire and transfer for the average person, not to mention your ability to purchase them with "real" cash is dependent on where you live and if someone offers that service there. Having to jump through so many hoops to donate makes it harder for the sites to get the money.

Oh, and another thing... TorrentLeech has been around for almost 15 years and I've never heard about them running into money or legal issues; in fact, it almost seems they only get stronger over time

[Spidtest]

Agree with that, I guess TL is one of those trackers that keep updated with latest things.

[alpacino]

There are some smaller trackers that offer the possibility of donating with credit card though, but even though the crypto coins seems to be the most natural way to go for tracker activity (since it's all about piracy anyways) crypto is not something easy to use as it's been discussed in this thread. And there's no running away from the fact that to keep a tracker alive you need money.

[Master Razor]

I don't know, filelist.ro never asked for money. I had an account there since they started and I have never seen a message, forum thread or announcement begging/asking/requiring money.

[anon]

Well, based on what you've told us about Romania, they probably get government funding