thoughts on torrent sites | Forums

sputnick
Lost Media Casual

I'm that guy!

Posts: 85

thoughts on torrent sites Dec 21, 2016 16:52:30 GMT StarviendSir likes this

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Post by sputnick on Dec 21, 2016 16:52:30 GMT

So alot of obscure media is uploaded through private torrent sites such as myspleen.org. These sites are useful, because, unlike outlets such as YouTube or Internet Archive, they do not remove unique content that may be copyrighted.

I've been thinking, however, that uploading any media in the form of torrents is not actually preserving it. If the torrent becomes "dead" (no users are actively seeding it), then it is impossible for anyone to download it. This leads to many torrents gradually becoming inaccessible on the internet. Despite this potential problem, a large amount of obscure media is stored exclusively using this method. So here is my question: Is preserving media through torrent sites a good practice? If not, what is the best method of "preserving" lost or obscure media on the internet?

Last Edit: Dec 21, 2016 21:51:49 GMT by sputnick

StarviendSir
VIP

Making Media Magic.

Posts: 152

thoughts on torrent sites Dec 24, 2016 1:18:40 GMT insulting iguana likes this

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Post by StarviendSir on Dec 24, 2016 1:18:40 GMT

From my experience, just putting the media EVERYWHERE once obtaining a copy is the best route to take. Not just some odd torrent site and YT, but also Vimeo AND Dailymotion AND vid.me AND the Internet Archive AND other torrents.

Torrents are a great way to preserve media, but they can't be the only way. That's why major video platforms exist, why the Internet Archive exists, why the National Film Preservation Foundation exists, why the Library of Congress exists, why climate controlled vaults and safety stock exist.

So, to answer your question sputnick , to me, torrent sites are like an original print of an early silver nitrate film; you have to (or in terms of the torrents should) find it to obtain the film, but you better be prepared to put that thing on safety stock as soon as possible.

(Also sorry if I got schmaltzy with the stuff about old film, but I'm doing something IRL about silent film now because of my time here on LMW.)

And if you want to know my opinion about the other sides of torrent sites,
1. I don't need a new Flash Player.
2. Even if it's illegal to use them technically, they are still close to my heart and I love them.

Privileged white trash lol. If you're lonely, talk to me on the Discord.

Lucy
Global Moderator

absence makes the heart grow fonder

Posts: 623

thoughts on torrent sites Dec 25, 2016 7:15:36 GMT StarviendSir and sputnick like this

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Post by Lucy on Dec 25, 2016 7:15:36 GMT

Pretty much what StarviendSir said. The advantage of torrent sites is that they're less likely to have copyright claims, the advantage of file-hosting sites is that you don't have to deal with a lack of seeds; and the advantage of video platforms is it's easiest to share with others for casual viewing. On the flipside, the disadvantage of torrent sites is that they can go dead quite easily, the disadvantage of file-hosting sites is stuff frequently gets removed, and the disadvantage of video-sharing platforms (along with similar removals) is they tend to re-encode anything that's uploaded, so every time you download a YouTube video and re-upload it, the quality diminishes.

So ideally, the best thing to do if you found something rare/lost would be to upload it to YouTube and similar sites, and in the description, link to both a DDL and torrent download, and encourage others to spread it to other platforms as well. Also, don't to be that guy that yells at people who also re-upload something you didn't make - this makes it far too easy for a single takedown notice to make it become lost again.