[ComodoHacker]

>P2P filesharing is part of the "decentralised web", and people seem to have no trouble installing the software for those.

We can't really call P2P filesharing today decentralized. It depends on trackers. And it's trackers who help users (often out of commercial interest) overcome all the troubles with software.

[ryukafalz]

Some torrents depend on trackers, yes. Others use magnet links, which aren't dependent on trackers at all. The data typically served by a tracker is instead stored in the DHT:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainline_DHT

[ComodoHacker]

DHT helps with downloading, but content discovery depends on tracker. You can't search for, rate or review content in DHT.

[erikpukinskis]

Content discovery can happen over any number of decentralized channels including email, diaspora, etc.

[xj9]

Every peer to peer system requires bootstrapping, often this is achieved with some central or federated nodes/trackers. Once you have peers, you can forget about trackers and use the DHT.