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Can someone explain Usenet to a long-time torrent-er? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by nopersonalspace@lemmy.world to c/piracy@lemmy.ml

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I'm a pretty heavy torrent user, running a media server complete with sonarr/radarr for automatic downloads. I download a lot, and have multiple TBs of upload on various private trackers. I've been torrenting forever, but I've always wondered about usenet. Over and over on this, and other, forums I see people saying that usenet is way better - but why?

I understand what it is overall, but what makes it better than traditional torrenting? In my mind, it's always just seemed like a different means to the same end. I pay for a VPN and torrent for "free", or I pay for usenet access and download directly from there. As someone who's "snobby" around the quality of the stuff I torrent, does usenet provide an advantage there?

Usenet fans, I'd love to hear what makes you love it! I'm always open to trying new things, and if It really is better I'd love to know why! (Plus, maybe what providers/tools etc you recommend).

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[-] Omniraptor@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ok this sounds pretty compelling, but if it's so great how have the powers that be not come down on it yet?

[-] JGrffn@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

They do! All of these backbone comply with takedown requests. Some comply with DMCA requests only, some comply with NTD requests only, and some comply with both. It's actually another thing you could consider when selecting your providers, you check their takedown policies. By mixing and matching, you increase your chances of finding every part of your file.

So, the thing saving usenet in particular, is that the pieces of the file get scattered through the usenet, and you require indexers to find the whole thing. This makes it difficult for takedown requests to actually take down the whole file. Sometimes the best they can do is remove a few parts, and you can repair your file with what's left. Sometimes they do win, but it happens infrequently enough that you should be able to complete most of your media library without issue.

this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023

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