Like every time I read the comments for any movie/show that features anything other than a white dude as the lead, everyone is like "tHe w0Ke cRoWd WiLL LoVE ThIs!!1!"

It's especially bad for anything Disney, which according to them, is a communist factory for LGBTQIA+ PEDO GROOMING or some other conspiracy nonsense. Granted, Disney is fully deserving of scathing criticism, but for different reasons.

Has anyone else noticed this? It's just weird to me because I view torrenting as a very anti-capitalist activity, but that seems to be lost on them?

  • dead [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    A lot of the people in this thread are talking only about public torrent sites. Private torrent sites are a bit different but equally full of chuds. I've chatted with many people on private torrent sites over this exact same topic. I've even talked with the some of the site operators on their motivations.

    Most of the people that I've talked to say something like they want to pay for the content but they can't fit it into their budget. They say they like copyright but they make up rules as to justify violating the copyright. I met very few people that were actually leftist and against copyright.

    Many of the site operators had jobs in IT and liked to maintain the website as a hobby. These were all non-profit torrent sites.

    Chuds love secret club. We've seen all the secret symbols chuds have to communicate with each other. There's also all the right wing militias, the Klan, etc. Torrent sites are kind of like a secret society: the sites a mostly unknown to the public, you access it with an alias, some of the sites require special credentials to enter.

    4ch*n, as we know is a chud site, is absolutely obsessed with private torrent sites. There's a 24/7 dedicated thread on 4ch*n for discussing private torrent sites, how to get in, community drama, etc.

    Torrenting is not really socialist. It's similar to squatting, shoplifting, community garden, carpooling, open source, etc. These thing are all good but they don't actually threaten capitalist hegemony. Torrenting is not revolutionary.

    With that being said, torrenting isn't just downloading. Torrenting is peer to peer. Somebody has to buy the media, somebody has to convert the media, somebody has to upload the media, somebody has to seed the media. If you are just downloading, you are being selfish. Torrenting is about sharing.

    • ElChango [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Thanks for giving a thoughtful and non-salty response.

      Private torrent sites are a bit different but equally full of chuds.

      Yes, I should have clarified that I was referring to private indexes, not public.

      Torrenting is not revolutionary.

      This is a fair point, and I guess I never really thought of it as revolutionary, but like you mentioned more of a "squatters rights" kinda mentality.

      Torrenting is about sharing.

      I agree with this 100% - that's why I have seeds that are at least 2 years old at this point, and I don't plan on removing them. And on that note - maybe the better question to ask is whether or not someone's seeding history relates to their political ideology?

    • InvaderZinn [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Seconded.

      It's embarrassing that I need to admit this, but it took me longer than it should have to realize that CHUDs are not the complete opposite of us. If I like open source software, CHUDs aren't going to defend Windows or Mac tooth and nail, and our actions can overlap but for differing reasons.

    • Odo [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      It's incredible to me how filled with chuds private trackers are. Some of them are full-blown nazis, the guy who runs Concertos is definitely a nazi.

      I know torrenting is not revolutionary or anticapitalist in and of itself, but I would have expected these people to at least have some sort of critic about how their precious media is being siloed behind digital paywalls, but the closest most people get to voice a critique against corporations is "Netflix's wokeness is destroying anime titties and western society". In my 2 years of being around private trackers, I have only met two or three people who are probably comrades.

      I guess it's not surprising when you start to think about the demographics of the people who torrent: White, male, middle-class and above, between their 20s-40s and with some kind of background on computers.

      It's interesting that you have had the chance to talk with operators about their reasons behind administering a tracker, would love to read some sort of digital ethnography on a private tracker.