Should We allow downloads w/o Registration (drop Private)???

this is about the Main Page Poll that was started just days before the 5th Anniversary of Our Great Community. and so this question arises, of letting Outsiders onto our "treasures", our torrents, and letting them download torrents using our swarm (a.k.a. all peers seeding or leeching this torrent, of our swarm = registered users)... Should we do it or not? this is an open Forum and an open Poll question, so let's discuss it, let's see the pro-s and con-s of doing it, and maybe this will help some of us to make a better no-hasty decision...

for starters, here's what i think... and note, this will only let them get torrents, NOTHING else will be available until they actually register as everyone of us had to.

PROs

more snatches, more seeders, more leechers

makes it possible for big torrent indexing sites such as *nova*, tpb, etc to actually index us into their database, with possible multi-tracker torrents in the end - thus even more seeders and leechers, and snatches...

possible more listeners for our local DJs...

with all this, maybe some people will decide to register to comment or even upload themselves...

CONs

more traffic for the end-user, for each one of us this probably means that we'll have to upload more, spend more bandwidth, because downloads by un-registered users don't call for any conscious "give back what you take" uploads, since noone will really see these people's stats anywhere in a long run, unless maybe in some clients... so more "hit and run"s will be there... although for some of us (with thick and unused bandwidth) this might be a PRO... =)

more attention can be a negative thing too... we all know good examples...

anyone of us could really start downloading as "unregistered" without reporting any downloads to the account, thus kinda cheat, and this might lead to lower comments and fewer discussions and slower site-life in general...

and so i have 4 vs 3, can you add anything to this? please, go ahead, post your additions!! and hopefully this helps some of us who didn't make the decision yet: become Public or stay Private??

Personal for me this is a great idea    So lets discuss it  

Here's my points for "Yes" or "No"



Yes :

- more snatches, more seeders, more leechers (for sure)
  also a lot of users with low ratio will increase it using this "new leechers" :)

- possible more listeners for us ... (for sure ... who does not want to be heard ?)

- we will receive more registrations , I think . because someone will visit the site to take the desired mix and when he see our quality stuff maybe he will register :)

- we can allow "free trial" :):):) we can allow this only for 1 or 2 months :) and after this period we can discuss it again .... to stop this or not :):):)

- great advertisement for us in this " free trial"



No :

- more of registered users will click on "log out" button (for sure)

- "hit and run" , less seeders , less comments , less vots ...  (maybe)

- this will be a little cheat to the registered users which will decide to stay "logged in" .... because they spend their time & internet bandwidth to seed...  

Interesting topic indeed.. it kinda put my mind to work and I am still undecided...

I think there are 2 major parts here. 1st: if we should leave TM open for everyone or not.

2nd: If we/you decide to make it public, how should this be done.

If TM will become public for snatching torrents, I think the 1 month "trial" period is a good idea. Just to see how things evolve. And after that 1 month , to asess the results.

If you ask me, I like the idea of private website. If so, you can control(in a good way)/teach/meet your community.

But all in all, the public feature has its own advantages as you've said. The only thing I really fear is the hit & run. I hate that, it's just so lame to take something that was shared to you and not help at least 24h with sharing it.

As well, we cannot forget the fact that once public, the chances of donations will increase, the number of users as well and so on. One thing is for sure, the torrent snatches will surely increase. This could help especially TM Dj's that want to be heard.

To sum up, I think that if TM goes public, we should analize the results after a month or so. The unregistered users that snatch torrents should see a different first page where the most obvious links should be "donations" / "register" / and a pro-register list of reasons (why it would be good to register).

I think a topic for this part (what should unregistered users see/ be able to do) would be useful. I would also include the possibility of donating by text message (I really do not use my credit card to pay for stuff 'cause once I had a bad experience). And I'm sure you all can think of many other things concerning these topics, I would really like to see the forum more alive :)

Letting unregistered users full access to the torrent collection without becoming a Member is a huge NO! from my opinion.
 
 Like Demonoid - who only open their registration once a month in the beginning of each month, unregistered users can download ONLY the newest torrents (48 hr lifespan) but to download anything older it requires registration.
This lets people get a taste of the site without registering, have limited downloads, ... and when they see how cool it all is, and that it's in their best interest to register to access the full features, they will.

Isn't registration just another barrier between a person actually listening to the music? .

The more listen to the music the better  

Drop anything which prevents a persons opportunity to knowledge.And music is the source of ultimate knowledge.

Just focussing on the free music we all download from one another here & NOT the technological or political points .

Do you as a individual enjoy the 'fREE' music you get on tribalmixes?

Why wouldn't you want another one to enjoy it also? .

What if all the artists,dj's/internet software developers  adopted a 'closed' system that only people with enough wealth could hear their music?. How would this kind of system benefit ANYONE, besides the artists or anyone whose interests was in the making money from the music.

You can not 'lose out' by giving something which you got for free!

Ultimately we all have something which we got for free,Life.

Lets share it & help it grow  

Eventually through sharing we can all be wealthy .

So a open system for all to hear the sound- download the music & a 'voice' for registered users whom hopefully have registered because they wish to be more part of the music community, are free to show their support & appreciation for anyone making the effort to add to the wealth of the music community I.E - Admins, Dj's , Artists , up-loaders etc  .

Oh come on man, this is not the point here. Of course that everyone around here wants to share all the good stuff. But what's the point in repeating 10 times the "free" word? Everything is already for free around here for anyone interested in music.

Is it really so hard to spend 2 minutes for registration? I agree that there are many good reasons to make torrents public but I just didn't understand yours  

that's the idea.. it's not hard to do that, even without reading any rules/regulations, just mark up boxes and enter username/pass/email, click, open email, confirm - total maybe even less than 2 minutes.. but there is a deep chasm between unregistered and registered usage of the websites... if you don't have to register on a site you found a link you've been looking for - nothing bonds you to the site, you can just grab it (link, torrent, whatever) and keep living.

i am running a private community site (tribalmixes), but that doesn't stop me from frowning, if some site makes me register to get their torrents... most of the time i'll skip that site and find this somewhere else, where nasty admins won't make me reveal my email, my ip, and simply waste my time with silly registrations... you must know, situation has changed... 4 years ago, from torrent sites with dj mixes there were only tm, tmb, and maybe few more of unheard-of sites... there was registration boom then, 200-300 new people a day.. now not only people are leaving for other resources, possible new users are finding stuff somewhere else, where nothing will bond them to the system, to the server.. that's why direct-download sites are so popular and easy to manage, cause all you need is a link to the file hosted somewhere, one time effort of uploading it there, - and months of snatching...

i like the idea of the "try-out period", maybe that is how we're going to start it. on the other hand, i do not think anything will change in 1 month, maybe it should run for 2-3 months, or even longer... it's not like people are sitting and waiting for us to drop privacy, no, and indexers won't start listing us momentarily, so it'll all take some time.. while we can keep discussing it... and also don't forget, it doesn't all change "in a finger-snap", such huge changes need lots of code behind them, and doing it all just to revert back to "usual" ways after 1-2 months, - well, i don't wanna sound whining, but i don't have much time to waste like that...

 Nice suggestion!

well then, ok, I understand your point, but in the end it all comes to what you want to achieve with TM in the future. If you want to spare those who are to lazy/unwilling to register, then the idea of making TM public and allow torrent downloads is a very good one. Then maybe some of them will decide to be part of the TM community. But I do not know how many will do that just to be able to comment/rate/post and so on. Even as it is now, very few post a comment, most of the times, it's the same users that say a "thanks" or something else.

The truth is that we cannot be sure of anything until TM becomes public, time passes as you said (3-4 months or longer) and results can be seen.  It's interesting though that the pool shows a preference for keeping it as it is.

Regardless of what will happen, I will always support the website and do things as I did them until now. For me it's an honour to be part of TM.

sorry, that I am didn't  write/discuss  so much like you, but I give my vote to forro....I absolutely agree with him....everything what he says!

It is exactly the point & we need all to begin getting the message across to one another that openness throughout every part of our lives is the only way forward.

Ok granted you may feel I'm Hijacking the 'should we allow downloads w/o registration' . to highlight a deeper need of openness & sharing of our resources.

But the point is their to  see . Registration is and can be used to lead to a more closed system where only a few have excess to content .With Tribalmixes this is no big deal because as you said it takes only 2 minutes to register.
But some music sites do block access and the less of these the better.





5 times Actually & if your are going to repeat a word then free is a healthy choice  



The point is getting the music heard.

Once again though a topic that many will view from a different perspective thus have a different personal opinion & inevitably this is not a discussion because one person will decide.

So Slash

It's your site and your doing a fine Job.I believe The reason their are not more people registering as nothing to do with how Good this site is.

The 'Value'  of Tribalmixes is the musical content.The music on Tribalmixes is superb especially if your completely biased towards Dance/drum music as I am.

I think the best way forward with your web site is concentrating your efforts on providing more 'exclusive content' like you have been achieving with Tribalmixes radio torrents etc .

The amount of Dance music sites offering free access and direct downloads is huge & millions can and do anomalously download this free.....?erm... sorry forro .. not paid for music.,

Exclusive material is a good way to make tribal mixes build upon this uniqueness of content .

Anyway just my Ideas. I just want everyone to enjoy the music as much as I do.

Ok, I am going to try and make a final comment on this subject 'cause it seems to me that this is taking a wrong turn.

Dear IB1, the remark I made stands and I strongly believe that you misunderstood it. I am not against your choice but against your way of motivating it.

You speak so easily about making everything open to everyone and how wonderful the world should be among us, how music can bring joy to our world... and that's not bad at all.

But when I stated my ideas I was thinking first of all at the people who made all this possible (TM website) and the uploaders that work their asses off to post these great sets over here, I was not thinking at all of those out there who are not registered.

Once again, I somehow tend to agree with "make downloads open to all" , the thing that I do not understand and accept is this register part barrier. It all comes to the respect that you are willing to show to those who shared all that good music with you. If all that you can do is download and only that, then you are not worthy of the effort that the TM staff is making.

Why did I say all this? because with open trackers this is exactly what happens... most of the downloads are hit & run. Those snatchers don't give a damn about anything than getting the desired set.

Again, it's all about what you want to accomplish in the future. Honestly I do not know which choice is better, I really do not know, so I really respect your ideas IB1. And I will strongly support anything slash will think is better.

I'm just confused if I would prefer 100 000 visitors with 50% hit & run or a community of 40000 that does it's best to share as best as they can.

Fact: registered users are the most important part of a website like TM. They help you with uploads, they rate torrents and comment them. They help you decide many times  to dld a set or not.  It's also true that opening downloads to everyone will NOT affect this.

So, my vote goes to slash's choice, to moocowdan/vfr/salsab/cshekar/littleangel/pippoka/ buzzer/pozi7ive/mades and so many more that I think the least they deserve is a 2min registration(you do it only once) and some comments now and then.

To conclude , no hard feelings IB1, it is not my intention hope things will turn out in the best way for TM! I am going to rest my case now and hope many more users will express their point of view, regardless of their choice/reasons. The more the better! Cheers to all  

I think here you have hit the nail the head . Not needing to register will get more of the music out their into peoples life, but this increase in downloads may not "Directly" or obviously,statistically seem to benefit the www.tribalmixes.com website .

So we can establish that more people will hear the  music which is surely only a positive.

But will these non Registered numbers downloading without written thanks harm Tribalmixes? .

Some of these downloaders will register because they like the music so much they want to thank a uploader etc . Some of these downloaders will not register & maybe they would of if it was a registration system only .

mmmm....?

would I prefer 100 000 visitors with 50% hit & run.

or a community of 40000 that does it's best to share as best as they can.

I think that's the answer! Have Both. We already have our community all be it a relatively small one.

I'm not preaching to anyone here just using a phrase to make the point ' You can't force respect '

And that's what the "majority" of comments show a user has .Either be it respecting the effort in mixing,uploading,producing music and thanking for sharing that music.

I say let em download it & hopefully the ones whom have a ear for appreciation will come back and say

THANKS & add to the tribalmixes community.Or maybe they will just play the mix on their headphones and add a little more rhythm to their lives and the community they live in,either way I know the more that hear the rhythms the better for us all.

i personally would never click the log out button

never ever

but that's just me :) one in a sextillion* :)


* -  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 sextillion