TL;DR - 1. How do most PT's track ratios? is it always by IP address or are there other methods. Asking bc IP address seems like it would be an issue on VPN. 2. Do all PT's operate on ratios or are there other systems? 3. Which PT's are best for competition and education tv shows? 4. other options besides PT's?
1. In general, do Private trackers require you to reveal IP address or some other info that could be used to track real world identity (even temporarily)? Some online recs for ABB alternatives included myanonamouse.net but rule "1.2 Duplicating IP Addresses" sounded VERY anti-VPN / anti-privacy to me and got me wondering if this is something all private trackers do as a method for tracking ratios via IP address or if it is just some of them. Not sure what the BT protocol supports, but seems like using public/private keys or some other equally anon method could be used instead of IP address for tracking stats if privacy was a main goal. If IP address based tracking isn't the norm, then how are ratios generally tracked on PT that let you remain completely anon?
2. Do all private trackers require maintaining ratios or is that misconception on my part? I'm just an average home user and like a lot of people my ISP imposes a monthly bandwidth cap. I don't mind sharing but I also don't plan on paying for something like a seedbox - if I'm going to spend money, I would probably look into some other option that doesn't require any effort on my part. Maybe usenet or real debrid? I haven't explored either of these in as much depth as I would like (so far).
3. Aside from looking for redundant alternatives to nyaa, ABB, irchighway, and libgenesis, the main content I'm having a hard time finding on public trackers is "educational" tv shows. Some documentaries are ok but I mostly mean non-fiction, non-reality-tv shows like like home improvement/gardening/animals/history/engineering/science/firearms/crafting/etc. Don't want to break rule 3 by mentioning any specific names but for example, a competition show that focused on crafting and had eliminations based on design or implementation flaws rather than how a competitor's crafted product looked would be right up my alley. I might also like a competition show that focuses on blue-collar workers. And pretty much anything related to archery/firearms, home improvement, maker, or outdoor challenges is usually fair game. Are there any private trackers (or usenet/real debrid/etc) that specialize in this kind of thing or are at least are more likely to have that kind of content than public trackers? I'm mostly interested in pirate sites for new and existing tv shows but am open to hearing about new youtube channels and the like that match my description too.
4. If there is another option besides public or private trackers that seems relevant to my questions, please feel free to enlighten me...
If it matters, I usually prefer smaller file sizes with x264/x265 encodes. I generally prefer 480p or 720p releases since I sometimes watch from mobile and family doesn't really care about resolutions over 720p anyway (I generally avoid downloading anything over 1080p).
For me, Usenet has replaced public trackers and competes with the private trackers I'm on. I find I'm mostly going to Usenet anymore and am only going to PTs if the release they have is higher quality or to keep my activity levels up, but most of the PT releases get uploaded to Usenet anyways. Occasionally there's some obscure thing I can only find on a PT, but it's rare. Getting a few good indexers will definitely increase your coverage.
You can preview the indexer only, just wouldn't be able to download anything without having a provider and a download client (like SABnzb or NZBGet). I think the provider usenet.farm has 10GB free trials or something like that if you did want to test it out.
I use Sonarr and the manual search available on the Indexer sites, which suits my needs. Haven't tested out any other searches.
But happy to answer any other questions you have. Feel free to DM me.
thanks a bunch. yeah, usenet is sounding a lot more up my alley than PT's. Might still look into some of the easier PT's if they're VPN-friendly but I think I'm going to put most of my time into looking into usenet.