The need for tracker safety
Most private trackers have their moderators, sys-ops, and people on their staff trolling various technology forums to catch rampant inviting, and more importantly trading of the invites, to their tracker.
While trading is allowed at TechEnclave, it is generally looked down upon in the Bittorrent world. The reason behind it is that the trackers themselves do not make any profit by indexing the torrents, so the same should extend to its members. They should also not be making any profit in the form of gaining an invite.
Why should we read this guide, you ask? Whether it is trading or simply giving out an invite, certain rules should be followed to ensure the safety and maintainance of your accounts. Everyone must have heard the stories about how people have lost their accounts after inviting dubious people, scammers, and ratio cheaters on private trackers. Not only are the cheaters and bad people banned, but the good person who gave out the invite on faith also gets a warning at best and simply gets banned at worst. Those stories are real enough folks. Shit happens, but why should you be the one to take it in the face? People work really hard to maintain their trackers and buffer their accounts, so why should it all go to waste?
Enough of the rhetoric, and on to the guide!
Ratio Proof Editing -
1. Take a screen shot by pressing "PrtSc" key in Windows and Linux or "F13" on Mac.
2. Open your favored photo editing application and open or paste the image. Anything from Paint to Photoshop is fine as long as you can manage the simple editing.
3. Cover the items shown below because Tracker Staff can identify and ban your account if they are exposed -
and
~ User name must be completely covered.
~ The Ratio should be covered, except for the first digit. For example, Ratio 1.29 should be edited to Ratio 1.xx. In case of two digits before the decimal, edit out all the digits except for one, but make sure that anyone looking at the ratio should be able to make out that there are two digits. For example, Ratio 29.12 should be edited to Ratio 2x.xx. A lot of people leave everything exposed which will make it extremely easy for tracker staff to find your account.
~ The same rules apply for the Upload and Download stats. Cover everything except for the first digit. One digit and the GB/TB indicator is enough and will keep your identity secure.
~ If you have any Invites, censor them also. Nobody needs to see that, because that is another option which helps them find you.
~ Active Torrents. This is very important so cover these numbers! We don't need this information to be publicly visible.
~ Edit out the Inbox/Sent messages count section. If you have a certain amount of PM's in your inbox or sent items, it will be very easy to find you in a tracker.
~ Completely cover the number of Friends on that tracker. Again, this is useless information to us but trackers can use it to identify you!
~ Time and Date! Since trackers can check when you log in on your account, they can cross-match this with your ratio and easily narrow down your identity.
~ If you have a tracker that has Bonus Points (Karma) or anything similar, cover that information as well.
4. Properly edited proofs should look like this -
and
Other guidelines to make yourself secure -
~ Ask for multiple ratio proofs. Do not hesitate to ask freely, as it is your account that is at risk.
~ Ask the person to send you multiple screenshots of the same page so that you can know for sure that they were taken in one batch and of the same view.
~ Another good and quick method is to tell the person to put your name, user name, or any phrase of your choice in the search bar when they take the screen shot.
~ Ask for profile links on common trackers to verify the presence of the account. If you cannot verify their accounts due to your not having an account there, then ask a friend who does have an account to do the verification for you.
~ To top it, you could send them a PM on the tracker, and ask them to repeat it here. That is total proof of authenticity.
~ If possible, check the person's activity on a common tracker, their posts and torrent comments.
Things to remember -
~ Improper Proofs may result in a ban, infraction, or warning.
~ Profile links should be sent only by PM. Never post your profile links in the forums.
~ Special requests such as multiple screenshots and search bar tags should preferably be conducted through PM.
Disclaimer - TechEnclave (TE) will not be responsible for Tracker bans related to "Improper Proof Editing".
Feedback is welcome. Hope this guide helps you good folks.
Most private trackers have their moderators, sys-ops, and people on their staff trolling various technology forums to catch rampant inviting, and more importantly trading of the invites, to their tracker.
While trading is allowed at TechEnclave, it is generally looked down upon in the Bittorrent world. The reason behind it is that the trackers themselves do not make any profit by indexing the torrents, so the same should extend to its members. They should also not be making any profit in the form of gaining an invite.
Why should we read this guide, you ask? Whether it is trading or simply giving out an invite, certain rules should be followed to ensure the safety and maintainance of your accounts. Everyone must have heard the stories about how people have lost their accounts after inviting dubious people, scammers, and ratio cheaters on private trackers. Not only are the cheaters and bad people banned, but the good person who gave out the invite on faith also gets a warning at best and simply gets banned at worst. Those stories are real enough folks. Shit happens, but why should you be the one to take it in the face? People work really hard to maintain their trackers and buffer their accounts, so why should it all go to waste?
Enough of the rhetoric, and on to the guide!
Ratio Proof Editing -
1. Take a screen shot by pressing "PrtSc" key in Windows and Linux or "F13" on Mac.
2. Open your favored photo editing application and open or paste the image. Anything from Paint to Photoshop is fine as long as you can manage the simple editing.
3. Cover the items shown below because Tracker Staff can identify and ban your account if they are exposed -
and
~ User name must be completely covered.
~ The Ratio should be covered, except for the first digit. For example, Ratio 1.29 should be edited to Ratio 1.xx. In case of two digits before the decimal, edit out all the digits except for one, but make sure that anyone looking at the ratio should be able to make out that there are two digits. For example, Ratio 29.12 should be edited to Ratio 2x.xx. A lot of people leave everything exposed which will make it extremely easy for tracker staff to find your account.
~ The same rules apply for the Upload and Download stats. Cover everything except for the first digit. One digit and the GB/TB indicator is enough and will keep your identity secure.
~ If you have any Invites, censor them also. Nobody needs to see that, because that is another option which helps them find you.
~ Active Torrents. This is very important so cover these numbers! We don't need this information to be publicly visible.
~ Edit out the Inbox/Sent messages count section. If you have a certain amount of PM's in your inbox or sent items, it will be very easy to find you in a tracker.
~ Completely cover the number of Friends on that tracker. Again, this is useless information to us but trackers can use it to identify you!
~ Time and Date! Since trackers can check when you log in on your account, they can cross-match this with your ratio and easily narrow down your identity.
~ If you have a tracker that has Bonus Points (Karma) or anything similar, cover that information as well.
4. Properly edited proofs should look like this -
and
Other guidelines to make yourself secure -
~ Ask for multiple ratio proofs. Do not hesitate to ask freely, as it is your account that is at risk.
~ Ask the person to send you multiple screenshots of the same page so that you can know for sure that they were taken in one batch and of the same view.
~ Another good and quick method is to tell the person to put your name, user name, or any phrase of your choice in the search bar when they take the screen shot.
~ Ask for profile links on common trackers to verify the presence of the account. If you cannot verify their accounts due to your not having an account there, then ask a friend who does have an account to do the verification for you.
~ To top it, you could send them a PM on the tracker, and ask them to repeat it here. That is total proof of authenticity.
~ If possible, check the person's activity on a common tracker, their posts and torrent comments.
Things to remember -
~ Improper Proofs may result in a ban, infraction, or warning.
~ Profile links should be sent only by PM. Never post your profile links in the forums.
~ Special requests such as multiple screenshots and search bar tags should preferably be conducted through PM.
Disclaimer - TechEnclave (TE) will not be responsible for Tracker bans related to "Improper Proof Editing".
Feedback is welcome. Hope this guide helps you good folks.
