[gioo]

It's not really a problem because they don't want people joining the tracker in general. It's about accountability, exclusivity and the quality of the user base. Invites being for sale means any random person could join, hindering the exclusivity and likely the quality of the userbase (a good user is already in other trackers and could join with other means). And of course, it also means that the user who bought the invite is more likely to break the golden rules because them getting tree banned is of no concern to them.

From the staff's POV it is very much a problem and some trackers are famous to drop the hammer at the slightest violation of the golden rules.

[that_guy_iain]

> a good user is already in other trackers and could join with other means

Actually, these users are generally deadbeat users. They're good at providing upload and buffering accounts but that is it. They don't make your community any better, they're spread out over multiple communities.

For example, back in the day I was on UK-T, SCC, ScT, FSC, FTN, BTN, HDBit, etc. I didn't really download much from any of them specifically. I created buffers and what not and kept my accounts alive. Like FTN I never used, for me it was actually not that good. But when I started out I just had LeechersLair, I was very active in the community, very active with comments, very active downloading and seeding because it was only account. So the good users for these sites are actually people who end up on my accidentally, aren't active in the generaly torrent scene and aren't looking for anything else. They'll make the forums better by being active there with unique content, they'll make the chat unique instead of conversations that carry on over from other chats (Been there done that), they'll file requests, etc. They'll be more active. The people who are all over the place are often deadbeats in terms of community value, if that makes sense.

> some trackers are famous to drop the hammer at the slightest violation of the golden rules.

So true, I once rejected from a so-called high level tracker FTWR (follow the white rabbit) because one guy was pissed I once said on a forum "Torrent trackers should be happy we use them." they're soo up themselves. Imagine thinking your users owe you something. The aim is to get users and get good users.

[gioo]

> Actually, these users are generally deadbeat users. They're good at providing upload and buffering accounts but that is it. They don't make your community any better, they're spread out over multiple communities.

You do have a point, I guess it boils down to the definition of a 'good user'. Like you said, someone joining from an invite they bought is likely gonna be more active. From the staff's POV the activity of an account is of secondary importance though, and the respect of golden rules is paramount. Tree-bans often end up banning users with high userclasses and (very) active accounts.

From my POV as a normal user, I like the tracker being active but I don't like the web of trust being broken. An invite-only club is good because everyone was invited by a trusted member; if you can just buy your way in it's different.

Anyway, the TL;DR is that at the end of the day your personal interests change depending on what position you're in (staff, normal user, etc.) and while you as an user may not mind people buying invites because of passive benefits, the tracker staff has different priorities and definitely does mind.