Before I say anything further, yes I know how much the recommended VPNs cost. I can read. Please do not interrogate me about it.

I’ve been wanting to get into torrenting for a while, particularly contributing to private trackers related to music (and to a lesser extent retro games, though I don’t have much original stuff to put there as it’s harder to find rare games than rare music). FMHY recommends RiseUp if I must get a free VPN while I’m working on my financial situation, though I’m not sure whether it’s been tested in court. What are my options, if any?

  • stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    4·
    5 hours ago

    I been using torrents since they became a good option a little over twenty years ago. I’ve torrented using public and all manner of private trackers both with and without vpn or tor.

    I have received letters from various ISPs during those years. Here’s what it all boils down to:

    What’s most important: turn off peer exchange and dht, turn on require encryption.

    What’s also important: only use private trackers.

    What’s less important, but good to have: use a vpn with port forwarding with your client bound to its interface. It doesn’t matter if you don’t bind the client to the vpn interface so make sure you do that.

    E: just read through the comments on your native instance that don’t show up to me normally. There’s some old misinformation going around still. I’m not gonna argue or go into great detail but things like only leeching, only using foreign trackers or using someone else’s WiFi don’t do anything to help you avoid some kind of letter.

    • ScratchySoft@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      3·
      2 hours ago

      I definitely don’t want to just leech. I use slsk right now and barely use it for downloading, just sharing rare music I find in local thrift stores and such.

      • stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        2 hours ago

        Go test into one of the music trackers. It’s easy if you can follow instructions and retain information. If you end up feeling like the social expectations of a private tracker are tripping you up then spend a little time on the mya tracker to get used to it first.

        If you’re making your own rips then being exposed to the information, toolsets and expectations of the private trackers will improve the quality of your output.